Iowa City is kind of a smaller version of Madison. Given your major, you likely know this geography better than I do, but it would be like moving the Iowa state capitol, UI, and ISU, to the isthmus between East and West Okoboji.
If you look at a map of the Wisconsin glacier (the last ice age), you can see how Okoboji sits in relation to the Des Moines lobe of the Wisconsin glacier, as Madison does in relation to that glacier in Wisconsin (and basically the same latitude I believe).
It has been a long time since I've been there, but UW likely still has good live music on their Union terrace, on the weekends, on the lake or inside at the nearby Rathskeller in the event of bad weather, or in the winter. It is kind of like the shows ISU used to have (maybe still does) at The Maintenance Shop, but much larger. At UW, these used to be free (paid by UW student fees or whatever), and maybe still are. There are many good acts traveling between Chicago, say, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis, all the time.
Everything else equal, I would choose UW-Madison over Iowa City.
If you plan an academic career, perhaps you would consider the schools that you don't choose now, in the future.
