<p>I think it’ll take a bit more than 2 years for USC to be on par with Duke. Universities don’t rise that fast, with respect to both prestige and academic quality. It’ll take 5 years at the very least, but in my mind, USC doesn’t catch up to Duke in the near future.</p>
<p>And Chicago? USC will likely never be able to compete with Chicago.</p>
<p>At this point, USC still lags behind schools like WashU and Northwestern in reputation and academic quality. So I don’t see how you can start setting your sights on Duke/Chicago without first surpassing those schools first.</p>