I agree with @gumbymom - UCSD is going to be a reach for you. Apply and put your heart and soul into your essay but, your capped UC GPA (probably in the 3.5 range) is probably going to keep you out. As you can see from the attached, just 2% of applicants with a < 3.5 were admitted.
http://studentresearch.ucsd.edu/_files/stats-data/common-data-set/c.pdf
There are lots of very good schools you’ll qualify for - Probably UCR, SDSU and LMU to name 3 in SoCal.
Good luck.