I absolutely agree with @mikemac.
Additionally, the grass is not always greener especially For a school like UCSD.
I have former students that attended UCSD.
I also have a neighbor who is an admissions committee member.
My DH was an undergrad in EE and computer engineering. (He had attended a highly competitive high school.) This was, of course, years and years ago but a number of his credits in AP were not acceptable at UCSD for the major because they are “thread dependent”.
Those courses have to be taken in a linear direction, and no amount of credits, taken in high school, in “engineering” can substitute nor suffice for the actual courses/experience with the professors, grad assistants, and labs. Those engineering labs have to be completed on site. My former students report that it has become extremely competitive, both at UCSD and SDSU, to get into those majors and get those courses completed. The quarter system is very intense for students who aren’t accustomed to a quarter system, so there’s that.
Housing, at UCSD, is an issue, as it is at all the UC’s, but UCSD is constantly building and upgrading their dorms however the timelines may not coincide with the OPs timeline. It is a lot more expensive to find rentals near UCSD (La Jolla) than it is to go inland to San Diego State. Still expensive, because it is San Diego, but not as expensive as some of the most expensive real estate on the coast.
And on another note, my DH, who also graduated from Stanford, interviews candidates from all of these public and private universities in California.
He prefers to hire CSU grads because they appear to have better “hands-on” experiences and “they don’t need to be told twice” how to successfully design their product. They can run projects independently, and in teams/teamwork, based on their internship experiences.
It is helpful to know the theory behind some of the concepts, but these corporations are on contractual timelines, putting out products, and they want people who they know are reliable and can/will produce their products.
Edited to add: My DH has really tough questions for prospective candidates. One of the questions is a make or break: “Teach me something, from something you learned in your courses that you liked“. If a person BSs through the question, then he knows that the person isn’t quite ready for his company. He is fair to them and says “just something simple, like a term or something”.
The reason for this question is because when they’re meeting with their customers, the clients may need things to be “explained” in a simplified manner. My DH explains the reason for the question. He has gotten some really positive feedback for the way that he interviews, from the candidates themselves.