<p>Can anyone compare the two? Similarities and differences? Thanks</p>
<ul>
<li>Columbia has the Core. UPenn’s requirements are a bit less pre-ordained.</li>
<li>Columbia is a hair stronger all-around, but Penn is stronger in business.</li>
<li>Columbia’s average SAT among admitted students is higher than Penn’s.</li>
<li>New York is known for pizza; Philly is known for cheese steaks. </li>
</ul>
<p>Honestly, both are among the cream of the US’s secondary educational crop. If you are lucky enough to be accepted to both, visit them both, compare financial aid, etc. Throw rankings out the window where these two are concerned and choose based on fit.</p>
<p>IMO the schools have more similarities than differences except if you want business, go for Wharton. Columbia does have a larger core which you could consider a positive or negative. I’d just go to whichever school in whichever city you prefer. You can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>I am a Barnard/Columbia (grad school) alumna married to a Columbia College alumnus, and so I am highly prejudiced, but I will add this for consideration: Philadelphia is a much, much more affordable city for young people than NYC, although it is also somewhat more dangerous nowadays (crime rate is closer to what NYC’s was back in the 1970s, when I attended college). My son lives in Philly, and there is no comparison to what he can find in the way of housing there and what’s available in NYC. He shared a 4-bedroom house with 3 friends for less than what many studios cost in Manhattan. His current 3-bedroom apartment costs what a lot of shared dorm rooms cost.</p>