I don't know if this post will be helpful, but here are my $.02:
UCSF is a great school (I shadowed an orthodontist who went there for her ortho residency and she loved it; plus it has a good rep). San Francisco is an awesome city--beautiful, amazing weather, cosmopolitan, near mountains and beaches, etc., etc.. If you are in-state, this is a no-brainer, I think. Even if you live out of state, if you think you can get in-state tuition by second or third year, it's worth it. I actually would have applied to UCSF if I thought I had any chance of getting in, but as an East-coaster, I didn't really think I had a chance since they only let in a handful of students from out-of-state.
I was accepted to Columbia and am considering going there. Columbia no doubt is a fantastic school with a well-known name. I am pretty sure I will go there. But, it is expensive, the neighborhood it is in is not very nice, and NYC is an extremely expensive city. My state schools do not come close to competing with Columbia, so I'm going to have to go with the more expensive school. But, given the option of a UCLA or UCSF, I would definitely go to one of those, given their balance of rigorous academics coupled with good clinical exposure and in-state tuition.
Good Luck!