I went to Berkeley for undergrad. I would go to Berkeley. They are giving you free money!
Try to live on the north side if you can afford it. The aesthetics on the north side are better, the restaurants are better, and there are more families that live on the north side so there are fewer apartments and more homes. Although you can still find apartments on the north side. My rent on the north side was $600/mo (including my share of electricity/trash/water/internet) for a room with 4 other people and we shared a very nice house on the north side that was maybe 7 years old and was very nice. It was maybe 2 blocks from the campus.
Plus, the campus is huge and you'll find that the academic atmosphere is rewarding. I always found it great when famous people would speak at Zellerbach auditorium. There's always an interesting talk going at Berkeley. Will a US President ever visit SCCO? I doubt it.
The college of optometry is the original building where they did the research that went into the first atomic bomb. So the campus has a lot of history. And near the optometry building is the music hall where many famous musicians will come by to play (smaller, more intimate acts). Also, the Greek Theatre hosts many music concerts for larger musicians.
It's only a short drive to San Francisco for shopping/theater/entertainment. And one hour away from San Jose for more shopping. And minutes away from Emeryville where there is a small shopping center/movie multiplex. Also within Berkeley is high end shopping area known as "4th Street" as well as college ave which contains other high end restaurants and shops. Berkeley is within a few miles of many top resaurants like Chez Panisse and Le Cheval (both Michelin-rated) (in Oakland) and across from the campus is Le Petit Cheval (the sister restaurant).
Oh yeah, and they have a good optometry program. I forgot about that part.
I shook Bill Clinton's hand while at Berkeley. I was completely speechless and stood about 10 feet away from him while he signed my book.
Also, you can take Bart (the metro rail system) directly to two international airports. Bart will take you into downtown Oakland and San Francisco (and SFO airport) without a problem.
Things I don't like about Berkeley:
UC = Under Construction. It may not bother you to constantly see the campus being constantly worked on. But as someone who enjoys history, I hated seeing lots of the old building materials destroyed and replaced with new things as they retrofitted the buildings. Some of the old buildings don't look quite right next to absolutely new buildings. The architecture doesn't match right. I don't think they'll be making any changes to the optometry building any time soon. I remember when they put strips of rubber on top of marble steps as a safety precaution because kids would slip on the marble when it got wet. I was hoping they would etch designs into the marble to increase the frictional coefficient while maintaining the aesthetics of marble. They also replaced a huge strip of walkway of old stone with brand new red bricks and I wasn't too happy with that. Sorry, but I'm just old fashioned.
As you can see, there's not much to complain about Berkeley.
EDIT:
Things I don't like about SCCO:
The city of Fullerton doesn't seem like a college town. I expected more restaurants.
Also, they name their buildings "Building A" and "Building B." There's something nostalgic about going to a building named after great minds.
Things I like about SCCO:
Nice campus.
