Not tooting my horn here. Just thought I'd add my experience. I did Cal for 2 years, then BYU for 2.5 more to finish. What's been said here is true. At BYU people generall assume you're conservative and LDS. At CAL, it was the opposite. People assume you're liberal and anti-religion. It's how the professors lecture, how you're expected to behave.

Also, IMHO, I believe the undergrad education was better at BYU, if you completely disregard the academic quality of the students. At BYU, they do better at teaching, personal attention, etc. In some ways, I felt like I returned to HS. Unfortunately, the kids who keep blowing off classes because they're getting married, leaving on missions, or whatever, are big detriments for undergrad education in the state of Utah, IMO. There were always a few, especially in the General Ed classes. They bring the curve down and, at least to a small extent, lower the overall academic level of performance.

That said, if my kid had the choice between the two, I would pick BYU hands down. WAY better bang for the buck. I'm in engineering, if that makes any difference.