Just my two cents but I would not e.g. choose to go to NYU simply because Yann LeCun is there

Thank you for the reply! But there are KyungHyun Cho and other amazing professors(Samuel Bowman, Rob Fergus etc) at NYU and they seem to be working with undergrads (although that seems to be rare..)

Columbia and NYU both have pretty good faculty. NYU probably has the edge there. Rather than pick a school and hope it works out, you might reach out to specific faculty whose work interests you and see if they're expecting to take on undergrad assistants.

Columbia GS students on average have a different experience than other undergrads. It's worth learning about the experiences GS students have had and whether that affects your decision.

Thank you for your detailed reply!! Does GS students get discriminated in terms of access to research? I heard that's not the case from multiple GS, CC and SEAS students but if that's the case, I don't think GS is a good choice. Research opportunities are the only things that I care.

For research it shouldn't matter.

Thank you so much for your help! By the way, are most ML professors at Columbia open to taking undergrad research assistants? It seems that's not the case for NYU...

I failed to get a position but I was also totally clueless (and useless) at the time (a long time ago, 2006-2007). Last year I spoke with a fairly talented undergrad who got a research assistant position at Columbia as a freshman. So, consider it case by case basis. If you have or develop the skills to be useful now you'll be better positioned when you matriculate. And it's all the more reason to try to line one up before you accept an offer.

Thank you so much for the advice!! I will start contacting the professors now!