<p>You are not alone in thinking that, I kinda do as well (i live in SD so ive heard/know a good deal about both schools) For undergrad engineering usnews ranks them next to each other, so many ppl consider them to be equivalent for engineering, but UCSD gets a lot of research money so there is a plus. If i were you id choose by virtue of the campuses and other, lesser, factors since the quality of their engineering programs are very similar.</p>