Just did this like a year ago!
If you're like me, you don't know what the hell you want to end up doing, so you are looking at a pretty liberal artsy education, maybe go science...I wanted a big school so I could switch it up and have a good selection of options. I was in Socal, wanted to go Norcal. If I lived in Norcal, I can imagine really wanting to go to a school in Socal.
**PLEASE DON'T BE OFFENDED IF I SLANDER TO YOUR ALMA MATER A BIT** These are my opinions, and my opinions only.
No matter how smart or focused you are, you will probably realize you like having a good time. Most of your day is not spent in classes, so keep in mind what kind of environment you want to surround yourself in. Nature? Reed College in Portland. Good weather? Socal. The beach? Ditto. Sparsely populated places (space to move)? Definitely not anything in L.A. Good schools that I would look at:
1) Simply put, I personally could not be happier with my choice. It's next door to you so likely not appealing, but gotta say it...Go Bears!
2) The Claremont Colleges. Very cool social atmosphere-VERY! Bit small, but intimate. Harvey Mudd if you want to get very technical (think Caltech, MIT), Pitzer if you like bongs (it's not as highly regarded as the others..), Claremont McKenna is great all-around (moderately difficult to get into) and Pomona College is really good (read : tough). You may say that Claremont as a location really isn't that interesting, but college is college; I find I spend a lot more time on campus in class/hanging out than I do "out in Berkeley" or going to SF or something. Might not be so bad? I really like these schools, I have a lot of friends at Claremont Mckenna and 1 at Pitzer (yes he likes his bong a lot).
3) USC. Definitely has an image. You either must fit the image or not mind being associated with it, granted, I think the image is changing a lot (or has changed a lot since 50 years ago). USC is a pretty decent school now with a lot of generally well-rounded, intelligent people. The girls are incredible. Seriously. Did I mention the girls at USC? Anyway, yes, you will learn things at USC. The kegs are a nice touch, too. Don't ever go the hell out into L.A. at night-you will get shot or molested or something bad will happen. Last time (the only) I visited the lovely south central neighborhoods, I found a big dog with rigamortise (sp?) wrapped up in a trash bag. So, a little rain on the beer and girls parade but you can be assured that USC has the security in place to take care of its precious little inhabitants. Try not to develop ego issues if you attend. Marshall School of Business is a ticket to anywhere.
4) I personally find UCLA unappealing. Most of my family attended at found it generally lackluster I suppose, a bit disorienting because of the size and L.A.
5) ASU has a HIGH idiot to smart people ratio. Regardless of the aviation department quality, you may want to reconsider based on this simple fact. A man is only as good as his environment.
Basically, I derive what I do at Cal (Mech. Engineering) from cars...whether I stick with this as a profession is hard to say. I will probably go to business school at some point, do something with that. We'll see. I can see it totally veering off course in other random directions of interest, but make sure it suits you. Check it out thoroughly. There are varying levels of quality to the living situations they typically provide, but generally, the dorms will require you to reevaluate any notion of personal space. They will also help your organizational skills as you pile all your stuff on the same square foot. And, I kid you not, but my first year at Cal I lived in a triple (luckily good guys) in 144 sqft...that is 48 per person...to LIVE! I would not do that bs again, although having friends around all the time was interesting.
If I'm not mistaken, you don't quite have SAT I or SAT II scores, nor the AP scores (if you took any)...my stats were 1450/A average and got into everywhere I applied (some east coast stuff) except for Columbia...I also applied to UCSB (another good choice) as a safety school, NYU, Skidmore (in upstate NY), USC, and UCSD (thumbs down). I did the common application, the UC application (most of the stuff is transferrable) and the columbia one (again, most private applications are very similar, just copy/paste LOL)...keep it simple and don't get too overwhelmed with crap to do/fill out. I am a white male, doesn't help me much applying to schools, but generally, good grades(3.7+), a 1350+SAT, solid essays (make sure to take a lot of time doing these) and a fair amount of school involvement (sports or clubs) will get you in anywhere decent. Decent students will NOT end up in some crap school; somebody somewhere will recognize your intelligence. The Ivies are hard as hell to get into because there are so many people with money giving a flip about the namesake and their flipped up collars. Don't sweat it.
My 2 cents is free
Scott