Well, I was at Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo), not Caltech, and I certainly would not want to go back there (over Rice).
I would probably choose Rice/Houston over UCSB/Santa Barbara or Caltech/Pasadena. Of course, the choice between Rice and Caltech would be much more difficult because of the prestige of Caltech. I am just not that drawn to So Cal at this point and I wouldn't really want to be at a state school unless it was some place like Berkeley. Of course, I don't really have to worry about making this decision since nobody is knocking at my door. I am sure my parents would love to see me move back.