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Nonsense. Most studies suggest that 60-70% of undergraduate students change their major at least once. It makes little sense to choose a school based on its ranking in Subject X when the odds are extremely good one will end up studying Subject Y. The attrition rate for engineering at my university is quite high.</p>
<p>That said, all four are very good schools, and it makes equally little sense to choose a university that does not offer the major one is tentatively considering. For chemical engineering, Duke and most likely Brown should be removed from consideration. Penn and Northwestern seem to be the most obvious choices. Penn and Northwestern have equally strong chemical engineering programs, and while Northwestern has a better materials science program, the difference is not significant at the undergraduate level.</p>
<p>Between Penn and Northwestern, it would be a matter of fit. For example, I would choose Penn because I like the university and Philly a lot better, but you may be the complete opposite. I’d suggest doing some more research about both schools, ignoring prestige and perceived academic strength. They’re very different schools.</p>