<p>I think Dartmouth might be a good balance between Amherst and Duke. It has amazing med placement, spends the most of any Ivy by far on advising (COHE), has amazing study abroad, a strong community, is less cliquey than Duke but bigger than Amherst, etc. My friends from dartmouth who pursued med school almost all went to top med schools, my best friends went to Penn, WashU, and Harvard med. I think this had so much to do with the amazing access to research at Dartmouth plus the strong advising and access to profs (meaning strong recs). Amherst without a doubt has similar benefits.</p>