OK, for Warren a program of concentration consists of 6 classes in an area outside (non-contiguous) to your major, as you stated. However, since you want to be an engineer, you would have GEs called "Area Studies" (AS), which are slightly different. They are still non-continguous to your major, but they only consist of 3 classes: 2 lower-divs and 1 upper-div class. You need to complete two separate AS's: one would be in a humanities area (history, philosphy, arts, theatre, literature, etc.) and one would be in a social science area (psychology, sociology, poli sci, etc.) - and that's 6 classes total.
So, to clarify, Area Studies are just General Education requirements, outside of your major. And depending on which Area Studies you choose to complete, you may be able to fulfill some classes with AP credit and such.
Look here for more detailed info:
http://warren.ucsd.edu/academiclife/...g_handbook.pdf