Penn or Columbia ED???

Colleges and Universities A-Z Columbia University
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<p>Going into senior year, I am completely torn on which one I want to ED to. I've struggled over this for many months now and I've read through almost every thread comparing the two schools, but I still can't decide. I know some might say to just apply RD and see which I get into, but I know that it would probably come down to this decision anyways, so I might as well decide right now. I don't have the means to travel all the way to NYC/Phili to visit, so I can only go off of brochures/websites/what I've heard. I would probably do econ/IR at Penn or econ/Math at Columbia, and I would greatly appreciate some opinions on Pros/Cons of both that might help sway me. In my mind right now, here is my list:</p>

<p>Penn:
Pros - (One Univesity, easier to double major, presence of IR major, supposedly greater community/campus, quad)
Cons - (too pre-pro for my taste and not enough focus on academia, influence of wharton on campus)</p>

<p>Columbia:
Pros - (more intellectual feel, joint econ majors, NYC, practically guaranteed singles at John Jay, unifying core)
Cons - (supposedly less of a community on campus, bureacracy, more "independent" attitude in students)</p>

<p>I'm posting on the other forum too.
On that note, which school has better food in dining halls? :)</p>

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<p>IMO, don’t apply ED to either…ED’s a binding agreement, so you HAVE to go. If you have any doubts and aren’t 100% sure that the school’s the one you definitely want to go to, then don’t apply ED. It can seriously come to down to simply seeing which one seems like the right fit for you, but since you can’t visit…that’ll be really hard, if not impossible, to do…
But that’s just my opinion…make sure you have 0 doubts…</p>

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<p>What makes you think you’d get accepted at both universities? If I were you, I would maximize my chances and apply ED at one of the two.</p>