<p>I'm very tempted by the amazing weather and biomedical engineering at duke but my real passion is in pure physics and math. i know chicago physics is probably the choice but i've heard duke math dept is amazing, though they are unranked they consistently win putnam or place highly. i was wondering how to compare on these programs and would the math physics of chicago make up for the lack of engineering.</p>
<p>bubbloy, My S looked at Duke but decided on Chicago for Math. He chose Chicago because of the more theoretical aspect of the program. He was also familiar with Dukes success on Putnam but became concerned that if you were not one of the Putnam team members you might be overlooked. I am not familiar with Dukes program but I can tell you he is thrilled with the Professors he has had so far at Chicago as a first year. My S applied for a National Science Foundation sholarship to study math this summer and was accepted for an 8 week program this summer. He feels one of the reasons he was accepted was becasue of the reputation of math at Chicago. Approx 5% of incoming class at Chicago are Math majors or close to 60 in incoming class. That is very large for any school. At orientation at Chicago you take a Math exam and if you do well you test into Honors Math Analysis - an extremely difficult class with a very theoretical bent. My S is in this class. I believe there are several USA Math Olympic team members in his class with a very diverse class from all over the world. Another aspect about Chicago's math program that he likes is that in his 3rd year he will begin taking graduate level math classes.If you have any specific questions I can try to help answer them. My final suggestion is that you comapre course offerings from the course catalogs. My S thought Chicago program was laid out much clearer than Dukes but you can decide that for yourself. Good luck as you have great options and I don't think you can go wrong with either. Fyi my S background before entering Chicago was Calc II & III, also Discrete Math and Linear algebra at college level. He received 800 on SATI and 800 on SAT II. He felt he was middle of the pack as far as preparation when entering but thinks now after two quarters most everyone is about equal in the material that has been presented.</p>
<p>grasslands: any opinions on UPenn vs UChicago?</p>
<p>What sets Chicago apart from either Duke or Penn is the social scene even more than the academics. Both Penn and Duke have fine departments across the board. They also have social scenes dominated by the Greeks and in the case of Duke, a heavy big time athletics atmosphere. Some kids need this badly, and think any place that does not have either, especially big time athletics, has no school spirit. Others abhor these things.</p>
<p>I stongly suggest checking out the atmosphere of these campuses, as it is hard for me to imagina the same kid being happy at Duke or Penn AND being happy at Chicago.</p>
<p>Well, i suppose i am one of those kids, so i guess it is possible. but thanks for your advice.</p>