Anyone who says UCB hasn't been around in the physics field enough. I went to UCB for physics undergrad and am a 2nd year PhD student at UCSD. The equipment, research, and funding is beyond what you could get at UCB.
14k more funding at UCSD is extremely significant, not only for your life but as an indicator of the program quality. Don't let people convince you of the over-hyped UCB "craze", it is not the best choice for physics. And don't take advice from people outside of our field (physics), you will find they will suggest UCB for no logical reason. UCSD is a very young school, and rankings in your high school college-prep magazine will thus be very unrealistically skewed.
Go visit the schools and see exactly what I'm talking about for yourself. UCSD is the better choice.
