It’s a state school, so it’s affordable plus their mascot is the banana slug. How cool is that?

ETA: Hmmm, if you’re looking for a particular kind of study, you could call up the recruiting office and ask about it. In my experience most of the UC schools have a good amount of open space (undeveloped canyons etc…). So looking into all those isn’t a bad idea. I went to UC San Diego, where there are tons of eucalyptus trees that give it a bit of a foresty feel as well. UC Davis ain’t so pretty, but it’s a short drive to Yosemite which is wonderful. UC Santa Barbara is also gorgeous, but a bit more beachy. The California State system has some decent campuses as well, but not as prestigious. CSU Humboldt and Monterrey are really pretty too. I never had friends in Private schools in Cali, so I never visited those campuses (college is a good time for road trips).

On the other hand, if you really know exactly what you want to study, you should probably start find the best schools for that subject and then start refining the list based on other properties of those schools (i.e. area). Good Luck!

Check out Univ of CA /Santa Cruz. I haven’t been there but I understand everyone there is very concerned about the environment.