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Steven Nguyen

UC Berkeley Former Admissions Officer

Steven

Navigating the UC Application: What Actually Gets You Accepted

What You’ll Learn:

UCLA and UC Berkeley each receive over 100,000 applications a year, and none of them include a test score. The decision comes down to your essays, your coursework, and what you've done outside class. Join Steven, a UC Berkeley Former Admissions Officer, to learn what it takes to stand out across the nine campuses.

  • Comprehensive Review: How your application is actually evaluated across nine campuses. 

  • The Four PIQs: What a reader looks for in each response. 

  • Academic and Extracurricular Weight: What counts most when there are no test scores.

  • Common Mistakes: The errors that cost otherwise strong applicants a spot. 

MEET YOUR HOST
Steven Nguyen
Steven

UC Berkeley Former Admissions Officer

With over a decade of experience in the U.S. admissions process, Steven worked at UC Berkeley as both an Admissions Reader and an Academic Counselor, giving him a comprehensive understanding of how the UC system evaluates freshman, transfer, and graduate applications. That range gives him a firsthand read on what a test-free review rewards and which applicants rise to the top of a pool of more than 100,000.

Where Steven's Students Have Been Admitted:

Brown · Northwestern · UPenn · UC Berkeley · Berkeley Haas · UCLA · USC · Stanford · Johns Hopkins · Michigan · And more!

Our Results | 2025–2026 Admissions Results

Ivy League + Top 10 Offers

201

Top 20 Offers

384

Higher Ivy+ Acceptance Rate vs. National Average

12.5x

Top 30 Acceptance Rate

87%

Elite Offers Per Student

4.37

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