I grew up in SLO, went to school at UCSD, and was active / surfed. Both are great places for all that, and for academics (one requires 4/3 wetsuit year round, the other only a 3/2 in the winter and trunks in the summer 
) It looks like my son will be choosing UCSD over Berkeley, perhaps for many of the same reasons that your son is shying away from Cal. We are also in the Bay area
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Omg mine still hasnāt committed. Admitted students days painted an enticing picture wrt both CNR and SLO. He liked UCSDās program and campus a lot but structural seems narrower than civil and he is drawn more to water or transpo and wasnāt keen on San Diego. To add to the mix he got off the waitlist at UCSB before deadline as well (for Earth Science but itās just a checkbox if he wants to switch to Env Studies BS). Now itās back and forth between Cal and SLO with civil eng and SLO in the lead Iām guessing. (Weāve talked enough and he just has to decide.) End of day, civil and farther from home/somewhere new feels best. But I wonāt complain if he does a 180 and picks Calābeing local we saved 1000s on travel costs, SHIP waiver and general angst during his sisterās tenure there!
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mine neither I hear and relate to the angst. Two friends from high school in SLO became civil engineers - one went to UCSD undergrad with me for the warmer surf (and school), and the other to Santa Clara undergrad (Cornell masters). Now they both live/work in SLO again (by design) - itās a special place. Another UCSD roommate (engineer) has 2 kids at CPSLO aerospace and another engineering major. Students are well trained there (and happy).
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Great to hear such positive things about locals made good in good ole unsexy civil eng and happy people in SLO! Ours are like Thelma and Louise on the mesa. Sigh. Best of luck to you and yours 
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