Beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder.

Classifying areas where even a condo would go for a few hundred thousand dollars as a "dump" may be a little harsh. That said, if one prefers suburban or rural surroundings to the urban landscape, then neither the Art Museum nor Manayunk would appeal.
Like many new 20somethings that post on this forum, it does appear that the OP would like to live in an interesting urban neighborhood that's relatively close to her grad school in the city. The Art Museum and Manayunk could each fit the bill in different ways.
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