purely based on music i'd say upenn as it will be easier to get to shows as you are already in the city. northwestern is out in evanston, so you'd probably only be in chicago proper on the weekends. starhill in cville is nice, but doesn't get most of the shows that dc gets.
penn is in the city, but like bags said, its in the hood. some parts of west philly make pg county look like fairfax county.