Decades ago, there were hardly any differences in prestige (and perhaps rankings) between UCD, UCSC, UCI, UCSB and UCR. UCSD was always a tad ahead of those 5 UC’s and next group, UCB > UCLA > UCSD. Today, UCD, UCI and UCSB have become more highly regarded, harder to get into (due to high demand for UC’s) and are higher ranked than UCSC and UCR. UCSC, UCR and UCM are considered good schools.