California is unique in their thinking about flagships. The kids at my kids’ school do not seem to perceive UCSB or UCSD as being less “flagshippy” than Arizona or Oregon. Possibly because they know they are as hard ot get in to based on history at the high school? They definitely know UCB and UCLA are even harder but they don’t seem to have any disdain for the next tier of UC schools. Even CalPoly garners a lot of respect.