I am a physics major at Cornell University and the atmosphere is totally different. Students are very much encouraged to work on problem sets together. I even had one professor who set up a BBS on the class website for this express purpose. I can't imagine getting through some of my problem sets without working together.

I meet with my physics "support group" at least once a week. In fact, what little social life seems to revolve around doing physics in groups. Uh...I'll stop talking now...