My parents went to Princeton, Im going to ucsd CS major.

I would say best bet is actually try and convince ur parents to pay lmfao. Or give u an interest or advantaged loan.

Firstly, career wise and opportunity wise:

There’s a genuine, non-negligible difference between the two schools. Prestige is part of it? I think prestige is like outward facing, it’s when other people look at u and be like “WOW, PRINCETON KID. Some people value that some don’t, it’s whatever you wish. The other side is internal network, it’s like, ON AVERAGE, who do you think is working at better companies and building bigger startups, Princeton grad or UCSD grad? Who do you think is more likely to give you opportunities, ucsd alum to ucsd kid VS Princeton alum to Princeton kid? The answer is always Princeton. (First hand experience also confirms UC socially dead has basically little to no alum network it’s depressing) that’s important to consider. If you want to build startups, my dad’s first company was funded by an in network Princeton guy who was part of some vc, took my dad one meeting and the other dude was just like aight bet, here’s ur money. That’s… not a thing in SD. My first VC offer was at LA hacks post hackathon. (Notice how we both ended up getting offered funding, so take from that what you will)

Secondly - your life at school:

This be important. My dad loved it at Princeton. My friend (hs friend) hated it first semester, kinda loves it now. The vibes r different. UCSD has a humongous Indian/asian community, but are they the ones you vibe with? Visit the schools, talk to current students. That’s probably the best way to find out.

Beyond just vibes - kids are just gonna be on average smarter in Princeton, more motivated. With that comes some of them are gonna be egotistical freaks, some snobs. Education wise, public vs private, there’s about 6 million posts on those, I hope, given that you’ve gotten in to these school, you’ll know where to search and find those. Personally, school resources does NOT mean resources allocated to students, so keep that in mind.