<p>What schools fit this profile??:</p>
<p>top-tier research university, around 3,500-9,000 undergrads
strong in the sciences and has some notable faculty in physics or astronomy
a "flexible" core curriculum (i.e. you can select your class from within an area)
proximity to a major city
nice campus (i like gothic-style buildings, but they don't have to be)</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Duke is perfect.</p>
<p>georgetown (perhaps?), UCLA (it is inside the city though), and in a certain way,the ivies too (although they have more grads than undergrads). And also, how important are sports for you? If they are, then Duke is perfect, I agree</p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon, U of Pennsylvania, U Chicago, Johns Hopkins
there may be some disagreement over which has a nice campus.</p>
<p>Not at all, they all have gorgeous campuses!!!!</p>
<p>Dartmouth, Duke, Penn, Pton </p>
<p>You'll find a lot of these though</p>
<p>notre dame. don't know about the core curriculum though or city-wise</p>
<p>i thought Dartmouth was pretty far from any major city?</p>
<p>thanks for the suggestions...</p>
<p>dart is rural. But I don't know the area well, it may be near some big city. does NH have big cities?</p>
<p>Dartmouth is about as far from a city as any school you'll find. It's not particularly strong in sciences and there isn't a gothic building on the campus.</p>
<p>Don't know about physics or astronomy, but Northwestern seems to fit the bill (in terms of size, core curriculum, proximity to a large city, and nice campus).</p>