<p>@mancune: I’ll agree that Penn is more pre-prof while Yale is more laid-back but I hardly consider Yale to be an ‘intellectual’ place. Ivies in general place too much emphasis on reputation and not nearly enough on academic rigor. Of the three, Chicago is the most intellectual by far whereas Yale and Penn are roughly the same in this respect (Penn’s supposed ‘lack of intellectualism’ results from the pre-professionalism of Wharton overshadowing other parts of the university). Also, I’m not sure where you get all of this stuff about extracurriculars and culture at Penn from. How are you defining quality? iirc, many clubs rank top 5 (and many first place) both nationally and internationally (MUN, mock trial, etc). To be honest, I doubt you’re getting the ‘full college experience’ as a grad student. It’s also worthy of note that Penn tops the ivy league in spending. I don’t see how a large endowment is supposed to help if you don’t plan on spending on it. </p>
<p>With all of that said, I’d still recommend the OP go to Chicago. Ivies just aren’t as academic when compared to other peer institutions and given that the OP wants to do hard sciences, it’s worth it to get a rigorous education.</p>