I got my BS Chemistry at Purdue and it's the only place I am currently applying for physical chemistry. I have been living in Lafayette/West Lafayette for about eight years now and I work for their Physics Department there already and have for the last year. The location really isn't THAT bad, and I grew up in the somewhat more cosmopolitan Chicago suburbs. Granted, the state as a whole is VERY politically conservative, West Lafayette is really rather liberal comparatively. The weather kind of sucks compared to someplace on the coasts, but if you're already used to Midwest weather it's not bad at all. Also, for a smaller city, Lafayette has quite a bit of culture and plenty of things to do.
Here in Lafayette, we call the more international and liberal area around the university itself "The Bubble" because townies almost never go in there, and most of the undergraduates don't ever leave it. Some of the advantages of Lafayette are the incredibly low cost of living in Tippecanoe County, the fact that Indy is only an hour away by car and there is a train that runs up to Chicago that has a terminal about a fifteen minute walk from campus, and the relatively low crime rate. It is really quite a safe city to live in. There is also no shortage of living space near campus, and the longest commute you'll probably be looking at living in town but off campus is fifteen minutes during the "rush hour".
As far as the program goes, I can't seem to get a clear indication of what they really want for admission. They don't seem to pay much attention to general GRE scores, because I've noticed people with scores all over the map getting in. Also, the program might seem really tough, but the undergraduate science and engineering programs are tough here too so if you're used to jumping through multiple flaming hoops in order to get the grade, you'll fit right in here. My friends in the graduate program right now tell me that the cumes are really quite difficult, but people still manage to pass them eventually, so who knows.
I had to work my way through my undergrad just to pay my bills, so I didn't have time for much undergrad research, publications, or a whole lot of extracurriculars. I also had a pretty rough first two years in my undergrad, leaving my GPA much lower than I would like when I graduated last May. Still, I found a professor who likes my work and wants me in their group, and hopefully anyone here who decides on Purdue I'll be seeing in the fall. Heck, even if I don't get in, I'll still probably see you in the fall since I'll still be working in my lab in Wetherill anyways.
One last thought about Purdue: our buildings and facilities in the chemistry department are really quite old. My lab looks like it was built sometime in the 60's or 70's, and the chemistry building itself is very old (I'm guessing like 80 years). Most of the offices and workspaces have no windows and white painted cinderblock walls. You will also probably be TA-ing a bunch of undergrads from outside the department since it seems like EVERYONE has to take some type of gen. chem. as an undergrad in nearly any field.
If you don't need windows in your office to be happy, you can take the cold and the ice, and you're good with hanging out at a pub or a nice little mom'n'pop coffee shop when you're not working (ha ha ha), Purdue is actually a nice place to live (I mean work). The administrative staff members in the department are lovely people and always say "hello" and ask how you are when you see them in the hallways. There is almost always some interesting cultural thing happening around campus somewhere, and the program looks pretty good on a resume from what I hear. The coffee in the printshop/grad student lounge is pretty good, too.
