<p>I am amused by the claim that Madison isn’t a city.</p>
<p>For the sake of completeness, the largest city for a Big 10 school is Columbus (pop. 750k+), where Ohio State is situated (NU is in Evanston, after all). It would have reasonably strong math and philosophy departments. Whether it meets the OP’s other preferences would require investigation.</p>
<p>And we ought not forget that the Big 10’s newest member is in Lincoln, NE, which is between Madison and Ann Arbor in size.</p>