Will second that Jersey City is a super hip and happening place (honestly just think of it as another NYC borough). Lots of new attendings I know live in Hoboken or Grove street (these places are basically just as expensive at manhattan now, but nicer to live in IMHO). If you're looking for something cheaper you can scout out Newport or Journal Square (I know of a couple Rutgers/RWJ residents who live there and don't have any trouble commuting)
Honestly just go with your gut. No worries if you liked UCSD better (I have a lot of friends who were residents at UCSD who were very happy and had no troubles in the match). At that point you're just splitting hairs. California tends to be on the extremes of the "local reputation>national reputation" scale, in that people in California will see certain institutions as phenomenal top choice powerhouses (e.g. UCLA/UCSD) and people elsewhere kinda look at them and think "that's pretty good." (Partially because most of us have limited experience with folks from these institutions because they all tend to STAY IN CALIFORNIA 5EVER).
A little bit of advice though: one thing you'll realize when looking for jobs or for fellowships is that local reputation really means a lot. This is partially due to self-selection, since a lot of people generally want to stay where they are after a certain point, so they'll tend to apply/interview/matriculate more often in the local region. As such, hiring directors/ PDs/ general staff at these local institutions get to know and trust and be willing to take more people from these other local institutions much more frequently (it's like a feedback loop). For instance, it's no accident that Manhattan programs tend to interbreed so heavily. Having been involved in the hiring process now, I can say that the reasoning is pretty simple: why would I ever turn down someone coming from an institution whose track record I trust, who knows the nuances of medicine in NYC, and whose references I know on a personal level and am certain will be honest with me? Contrast this with someone coming from a black box institution with a decent reputation. It's why we're so happy taking folks from Monte so much, even over places with an arguably stronger name brand. I don't think we've ever had a bad experience with a monte resident, either as a fellow or as an attending, and we obviously know what we're getting, so that tends to give them a slight edge in the process.
