<p>“Also, most schools in america (big random state schools) don’t seem to suffer from this type of envy; they seem generally less insecure in that regard…”</p>
<p>That’s definitely not true for the UC/CSU systems here in California. There is a very apparent hierarchy of the individual campuses for each system. For instance, UCLA and Berkeley generally sit at the top of this hierarchy for the UC campuses, with UC Merced and UC Santa Cruz hovering towards the bottom. For the CSU campuses, Cal Poly SLO, CSU Fullerton, and CSU Long Beach come out on top, while less popular campuses such as CSU Dominguez Hills and CSU Stanislaus are almost glued to the bottom of the list. Where each person views a particular campus, however, is obviously up to them.</p>