Being within commuting distance of Hollywood was an enourmous advantage for me in making connections while I was in school, and getting a job immediately upon graduating. Cal Arts is another well-regarded Southern California art school. While Art Center may have more advanced computer classes, and a better regarded Illustration department, Cal Art's focus on character animation is far ahead of Art Center's more limited animation courses. Cal Arts was partially funded by Walt Disney and focuses on animation, with and without using computers. Cal Arts is in Valencia, California, further out of town than Art Center.
Companies have specific positions to fill, to do a specific job.
It doesn't matter if you are the world's best modeller, if you are applying to a company that only needs someone to write renderman shaders, they won't take you if you can't do that job. This might seem like common sense, but a lot of students, and hobbiests trying to turn professional, seem to send off their tapes blindly to companies they have heard of, without any thought about the job descriptions and requirements of the company. Landfills full of VHS tapes, and thousands of hours of company time scanning through reels, are wasted because of this. There are a lot of different positions. Some require a certain amount of production experience, others are entry level.