I'm originally from Northern California, SF Bay Area. I had intended on going to UCSB, but unfortunately I was rejected and SDSU seemed like my next closest bet to a UCSB type campus. First and foremost, i've noticed different calibur of students in the different years. You can tell that the 5th years aren't nearly as studious as the freshmen. Most people in my dorms seem to be pretty focused on their school work, the dorms have study lounges, that started off in the beginning of the year as poker lounges but sooned developed into actual study lounges, people tend to use them pretty consistently for school work. Most people i've met at SDSU are very outgoing and friendly to talk to. When I visited the campus originally I was blown away by it, it gave me a good feeling, that feeling has stuck with me. I had two very excellent history professors, and every single one of my teachers seemed to love their work and were very intriguing/always willing to help during office hours or after class, prior to picking classes you can go to
www.ratemyprofessor.com (SDSU has the largest amount of comments on the site) and you can choose wonderful professors via that.