Granted it was for engineering, but my son could have gone nearly anywhere and he chose to go to Cal Poly from out of state. He didn’t apply to any UCs. He would have gotten in because he had classmates with lower stats get into both UCB and UCLA.
So the question is why? He felt that if he wanted to go to a school with giant lectures and heavy reliance on TAs he would have simply gone to Oregon State or a WUE public where they gave him a boatload of money. He paid no attention whatsoever to rankings (although CP ranked #2 in his major), but instead tried to vet what the teaching and student experience would be like. Cal Poly is not CSULA. The vibe is VERY different.
Again, not pitching Cal Poly or any CSU, but for PoliSci, CP usually expects over 1500 applicants for 77 slots. Assuming a 33% yield, that’s 15%. Not exactly a slam dunk. 
One of his HS classmates went to an Ivy League school and is currently grossly under employed, while he works for a startup and not quite two years into his career is in the 90th percentile for salary.
I’m not saying that you should consider CSULA, or any other CSU for that matter, but painting with such broad strokes covers the nuances.