According to U.S.News UCLA is number twenty three as is USC. Berkeley is now number twenty by the same set of rankings. It is inept corrupt government leading to diversity that is killing California schools.
I'll tell briefly a personal story that illustrates your point. In 1965 I was a high school junior intending to become an architect, and because I had a California state scholarship money for tuition was irrelevant in my school choice. There were then only three accredited schools of architecture, USC, Cal Poly SLO, and Cal Berkeley. In '65 the free speech uproar at Berkeley, and Gov. Reagan's response to it, made it look possible that he would shut it all down--so Berkeley was out for me. As a city boy, San Luis Obispo was unappealing, which left SC and its excellent reputation for its professional schools.
So, conservative Reagan kept me out of Berkeley, but he saved the university itself.