<p>Which is the better place to study physics? And is U Chicago and Cornell's winter that bad as some say?</p>
<p>Chicago and Cornell would be a notch better in physics but for overall undergraduate experience Duke would win.</p>
<p>Chicago definitely has the edge in physics. But what do you want to do with it? If you want to be the next nobel prize winner and be a respected physicist, go to Chicago. If you just want a degree and a job, go to Duke. 99% of people don't know about Chicago or confuse it with UIC, and they will be the people interviewing you, meeting you at cocktail parties, working with you. If those are the people you want to impress, then don't spend 100K+ on a degree from Chicago. Those type of people are just as impressed with a degree from Northwestern, or Wisconsin for that matter.</p>
<p>Gourman physics
top physics programs according to the Gourman Report, listed in rank order:
Caltech
Harvard
Cornell
Princeton
MIT
UC Berkeley
Stanford
U Chicago
U Illinois UC
Columbia
Yale
Georgia Tech
UC San Diego
UCLA
U Pennsylvania
U Wisconsin Madison
U Washington
U Michigan AA
U Maryland CP
UC Santa Barbara
U Texas Austin
Carnegie Mellon
U Minnesota
RPI
Brown
JHU
Michigan St
Notre Dame
SUNY Stony Brook
Case Western
Northwestern
U Rochester
U Pittsburgh
Penn State
U Colorado Boulder</p>