Columbia University in the City of New York

First of all, if you go to Columbia you should expect the Core Curriculum since it is a major part of Columbia's reputation. I am a very self-motivated student and I still appreciate the basic well rounded education that the Core ensures. Granted some of the classes can be useless depending on your professor, but overall it is incredibly useful. It makes sure that every student has the same basis in philosophy and literature so that there is a common background for class discussions. And on a more basic level, the ideals of the Core Curriculum signify an attitude at Columbia towards a complete, well rounded education that I strongly agree with. As far as the administration issue goes, Columbia does have a problem with bureaucracy. They don't treat students with individual attention and there is a lot of red tape. That said, this also gives the student a lot of freedom since the university doesn't pay much attention to what you're doing. I was thinking about doing an ethnomusicology degree and while creating the major would have been incredibly problematic with all the appeals and paperwork, the Anthropology dept was fine with me doing an Anthro degree focused on music. The point here is that if you're self-motivated you can find a way to work the system and as long as you fulfill the basic requirements set in place you have a lot of freedom.