It's a nice place you are 30 min from the beach, 4 hours from Tahoe, 45 min from San Francisco and plenty of stuff to do on your down time. Rent is expensive though, but so is the school...
Yeah, Santa Cruz is really close, but on the weekends traffic can take 45 min depending on the weather..
I will apply to Santa Clara. Got accepted last year, will try again this year.