Just a comment re GPA - Junior year is pretty important to knock out some AP’s to get the 8 semester GPA bump for CSU/UC’s. I know my D18 had a UC 3.7 GPA end of sophomore year and moved to just over 4 end of junior year - pretty common trend. So anyways, with the right classes your D may be much better positioned than you think.
For “college experience” we are liking SDSU and SLO . . . more than UC’s.