<p>@catisforfite: Congratulations on having such wonderful options. I know much more about Chicago–in my view, it seems to provide one of the best undergraduate experiences around, combining relatively small size, great faculty, a fairly unified academic experience (i.e. no undergraduate business, engineering, etc.), absence of big time athletics/fraternities (i.e. more talented students top-to-bottom and less boorish behavior), and access to one of the world’s great cities. That said, Dartmouth has many fans, and their alumni seem particularly loyal, which speaks very well of the school. Among my friends and acquaintances who are Dartmouth alums, I’ve never heard anything but glowing reviews. Good luck with your choice.</p>
<p>@RML: You may have some valid points, but it’s difficult to take them seriously, because your basic premise appears to be that Duke is a peer with institutions at a higher level of the constellation than is Chicago. At the college level, Chicago’s students are at least as strong as Duke’s, based on the available metrics (e.g. test scores/% at the top of their HS classes). It would interesting to see Duke-Chicago cross-admit data–my own guess is that it’s about 50/50, plus or minus 10 percent, with the tide moving in Chicago’s direction. But, at the overall university level, it would seem that few could reasonably quibble with the assessment that Chicago is clearly the superior institution. There are surely exceptions, but Chicago’s graduate and professional programs are typically nearer the top of the table, something that’s borne out in the aggregate by Chicago’s much higher standing in the Shanghai World University Rankings and the Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings. Because Chicago’s rise is probably the most noteworthy change in the recent history of the (somewhat ridiculous) USNWR rankings, I guess that it only makes sense that there would be some haters (and Chicago haters appear to be particularly vitriolic (…some would say misinformed)). Surely, some of Chicago’s creep up the rankings can be attributed to the university’s recent willingness to “play the game” by moving the deck chairs around to suit the USNWR methodology (see, e.g., switch to the Common App.). But the genuine enabler of Chicago’s ranking is the fundamental strength of the faculty and the institution. In many respects, the College’s reputation had underperformed the larger institution’s. The university’s investments over the last decade to improve the College experience, while maintaining the rigor of the academic program and access to faculty, are now doing nothing more than driving the College’s standing to near-parity with Chicago’s overall reputation. Duke is an exceptional institution, but it would pretty clearly be the junior peer in an overall head-to-head comparison with Chicago.</p>