Student Life? Things to do on and off campus?
Strength of CS programs?
SLO has more of a college town feel to it, with a lot of the freshmen living on campus. On the other hand, UCI is a commuter school, and so will not have the same feel. In addition, SLO is more hands on and focused on getting you ready for the workforce while UCI is more research based.
I’m not enrolled in either of the schools, and so I can’t say anything for the strength of the CS programs. However, I can say that SLO’s extremely selective for their CS program (I believe it was like a 10-15% acceptance rate). And considering the fact that SLO is a polyTECHnic university, I’d say that their CS program is pretty strong. I haven’t looked up much about UCI’s CS program unfortunately but hopefully somebody else can help you with that! 
Thanks for your input!
I want to pick SLO because I really like their “learn by doing” motto and hands on work. However, I’m not a fan of college towns. I am in love with Irvine’s campus, and their environment suits me vert well. My only concern is whether their CS program is good and whether I should sacrifice a better CS program over an environment I would find more enjoyable over the next four years of my life.
UCI’s CS is highly ranked. I just ran some stats. UCI’s CS grad program is ranked 29th. On Computer Science Hub Degree dot com, UCI’s CS program is ranked 24th for most innovative. Overall, UCI is ranked 39th in the country, and 9th for top public schools.