They are pretty different so you should be able to make your choice based not he differences between those two excellent but rather different schools.
Penn has its own distinct campus but it is also within a major city with a lot of offerings (theater, restaurants, bars, games, etc). Duke is more isolated but the campus is more classically beautiful.
Penn is overall ranked higher in most fields (including medicine and neuroscience), but the differences at this level are not that important.
Penn is more diverse and has a northeast vibe, Duke is more homogeneous and has a southern vibe.
I dont think the rigor or grade inflation is very different between the schools.
The med school acceptance rate is similar for both schools (high 70%s)
This is pretty disingenuous. Are you suggesting a student walking around the campuses would notice a difference?
Duke
43.6% White
21.4% Asian
10.4% Nonresident/International
10.3% Black
8.70% Hispanic
2.67% Race/ethnicity unknown
2.09% Two or more races
0.75% American Indian/Alaska Native
19.2% from top 1% ($630,000+)
16.5% from bottom 60% (<$65,000)
85% from out-of-state
Penn
40.8% White
21.4% Asian
13.0% Nonresident/International
10.5% Hispanic
7.43% Black
4.61% Two or more races
2.14% Race/ethnicity unknown
0.10% American Indian/Alaska Native
18.7% from top 1% ($630,000+)
16.5% from bottom 60% (<$65,000)
81% from out-of-state
39% of Duke freshmen are from the South, exactly in line with the percentage of people living in the South. The northeast, on the other hand, is overrepresented at Duke – only 17% of people live in the northeast, but 26% of Duke freshmen hail from the northeast.
Penn, like all of the Ivies, has a disproportionately large percentage of students from the northeast and underenrolls from the South.
There’s not a wooden nickel’s worth of difference between Duke and Penn when it comes to diversity, so it isn’t a relevant factor in choosing between the two schools.
College Factual gives Duke a little better overall diversity ranking - based on ethnicity, gender, age and geographic location of origin - but I wouldn’t reject Penn based on that alone.