I went to Columbia and I know some people who went to NYU. Honestly, I'd go with NYU. Their clinical program is better and Columbia has no incentive to help out any of the students because it's an IIIIIIIvy, well la-dee-dah. There are also big problems there with professors not wanting to talk about race (or anything controversial).
That being said, I didn't hate the Columbia program (I was only there for a year, though...Advanced Standing...), and after graduation I got a decent research job (I was a policy student) and a year after that I got pretty much my dream job. But most everyone I know who was in the Columbia program really hated it.
