I think that there’s an element of “familiarity breeds contempt” here. And I fully understand that, having once been a high schooler in Virginia who bristled at any pressure to consider the top-notch publics in that state. (Didn’t end up with that decision to make, as we moved out of VA in my junior year, but just saying that I know the feeling.)
But, I honestly think it would be foolish to give up a spot in UW CS, which is one of the tippy-top CS programs in the entire country/world (even more highly-regarded than the full CS major in UCLA’s engineering school), for the CS+Ling major at UCLA, even at cost parity. Throw in the fact that you’d be paying more than double for UCLA over the in-state cost of UDub, and… just no.
I understand that you think you’d like to work in computational linguistics; and if this continues to be your primary interest, wonderful! You can indeed pursue that at UW too.
But linguistics is an interesting field. A lot of the people who end up loving it never thought they would, and a lot of the people who were excited about studying it end up not liking it as much as they expected. Maybe you have explored the field in enough depth already to be sure - I don’t know. But my point is, at UCLA, you’d be locked in. You couldn’t switch into straight-CS. If you discovered a different sub-field of CS that you loved more, you wouldn’t be able to reallocate all of the linguistics coursework you’d be committed to. And your CS foundation would not be as robust as you’d get with the full degree at UW.
I think you’re already clear that UW is better academically. The argument for UCLA basically boils down to California + “dream school.” And yes, I know that UCLA has captured the public imagination as a “dream school” avatar of sorts. It’s a cool place. I get that.
But truly, so is UW. It’s an amazing university with a phenomenal CS program, a gorgeous campus, a vibrant student community - honestly, all the things. (One of my California kids loved it more than any of the UC’s. Familiarity breeds contempt!) Most of the difference comes down to weather. And I know that isn’t nothing. But… $160K also isn’t nothing. Paying that kind of money to downgrade the flexibility and CS clout of your degree just doesn’t add up.
You can still get internships and jobs in California. Worst-case, for $160K, you could do a masters at California school after you finish at UW and still come out ahead, but that probably won’t be necessary unless it’s something you specifically want.
Congrats on the UCLA admit, but I think you should stay the course at UW.