Yet another what to choose...

CC_Admin
Mon, 05 Feb 2007 16:36:17 +0000

I’m not sure about Georgetown, like others here I guess.
With Columbia and Chicago, it’s a close call just because the two schools are so similar. They both have an extensive core around small seminars, with more emphasis on social science at Chicago and more of a Great Books program at Columbia. Both are in major cities, although Columbia is a bit closer to the center of Manhattan while Chicago is campus-oriented I think. Nobel prize winners, etc, etc…
Perhaps one way of making the distinction is on the philosophy of the faculty. If your friend will be doing economics, then he will probably keep in mind that Chicago has an entire ideological school founded after them; while they are one of the most important intellectual powerhouses in the field, it would be reasonable to think that a Chicago education in economics will not be completely balanced, perhaps with more of an emphasis on the Chicago school. I think that at Columbia there may be a greater diversity of perspectives. However, this information is passed down from second-hand sources, so I’m not certain if that’s true.

I suppose that a more tangible choice is the degree to which your friend would want an urban campus, the cost of daily living (at New York it would probably be right up there), and so on. Also, if your friend wants to double major, I think that would be easier to do at Columbia, and still easier at Georgetown, although I don’t think that at Georgetown there is as intellectual an atmosphere as at Columbia and Chicago.

choices, choices…