I’m also at a CSU (second year sophomore) and I was debating whether to drop to CC and apply for UC over the summer. But since I know for sure that I want to go somewhere far from California, I realized that applying for private school/ out of state schools are the best options for myself. I’m not sure if you are interested or whatever, but if I would you that I would consider schools like USC or some other private school. I believe you learned a lot from all these detour, and not sure how your grades are (let’s assuming they are descent); I think you would have better chance for USC/ some private schools. Write a compelling essay, and why you learned after all these years. I personally think that UC is just so hard to get in at this point, since everyone wants to go to the top UC from CC and the spots are just so limited.
Good luck with everything 