Picking a NYC school to satisfy math and CS pre-reqs / post-bacc studies

[sumdata]

I am returning to school after 5 years. I graduated with good grades and BA in English from DPU but now I want to get a MS in Data Science at Columbia or NYU. I took several interdisciplinary statistics courses as part of a Env. Sci. minor which I really liked. But I only took one quarter of Calculus. I would have to take Calc I-III, Linear Algebra, Discrete Math, and basic CS coursework to meet the pre-reqs I see at both schools.

 

So how important is the school choice for taking pre-reqs? Columbia, NYU, Stevens, etc. are very expensive whereas CCNY is much more affordable. The Columbia post-bacc program should not be a problem to get into with my good grades and I could start attending next month. Is it worth paying tuition for Columbia since I intend to apply there? Hopefully I could get a good LOR from faculty in the process. Presumably Columbia and NYU admissions staff would be very familiar with NYC-area schools and could recognize good grades at a respected regional school.

Edited December 16, 2014 by sumdata