University of California, Irvine Admissions Counseling From Former Admissions Officers

Spencer has a Bachelor of Science from UCLA, where he served on the Alumni Scholarship Admissions Committee, reviewing student applications for scholarship awards. Spencer has extensive experience as a college admissions consultant, university adjunct professor, and law school graduate. 

Spencer is driven by his passion for helping every student craft and convey their distinctive story. He firmly believes that comprehending their personal narrative is the key to unlocking success in the admissions process. He derives great satisfaction from inspiring applicants to communicate their message compellingly and coherently, enhancing their chances of admission to their dream college. 

Through his work with high school students, Spencer endeavors to identify and secure the ideal college that aligns with their aspirations and future objectives. By getting to know his students as individuals and understanding their unique perspectives, ideas, and personalities, Spencer skillfully connects the dots between their personal packages and the ideal institutions that will allow them to thrive.

Spencer’s greatest strength as a coach is attentive listening and skillfully using the nuances of an individual's narrative to construct a compelling overall story. He recognizes the overwhelming nature of applications and prefers to help applicants approach everything in manageable steps that lead to success.

Applicants Spencer has recently coached have gained acceptance into the country’s top universities, including Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, Princeton, UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, and NYU.

When Spencer isn’t coaching, you can find him racing with his sailing team in San Diego.

Noel earned a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an MEd from NC State University, an MA from UCLA, and is currently pursuing a PhD from UCLA. Noel worked for the international student office at UNC as an essay reader and liaison for newly admitted students and coached students through the admissions process at UCLA, providing feedback on prospective graduate students’ essays. Students Noel has coached have been accepted to Duke, Emory, UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UNC at Chapel Hill, among others. 

Through his experience, Noel learned that admission truly is a holistic process—every part of an essay can make a difference. His experience as an essay reader helped him gain much insight into how important these items can be, especially when serving as "tie-breakers" for students with similar GPAs and test scores. Successful students, from his experience, presented themselves confidently and authentically, grounded in their own unique, specific experiences. Noel has been a writing instructor and coach at UCLA in recent years and excels at helping students develop and present themselves and their accomplishments in a memorable way they can be proud of.

Noel’s passion for coaching stems from his love of celebrating the moments when students achieve the goals they have worked so hard for! He loves to see how students grow during the process, learn new things about themselves, and be able to embrace their strengths along the way, even if the process is stressful. He believes we learn from stress as long as it is managed well; Noel hopes to be a stress mitigator and support system for students. 

Noel takes an assets-based approach to student counseling, which focuses on each individual's strengths and accomplishments rather than what they haven't done. He knows it can be easy for students to compare themselves to others and lose sight during competitive processes like admissions. Noel sees his job, first and foremost, as identifying, developing, and helping students present the strengths they already have in the most effective way possible.

Noel’s greatest strength is his positive and pragmatic outlook. His approach helps students build confidence, leading to tangible results on their final application materials and setting them up for success beyond college. While positive, he understands the many complicated steps required for acceptance in the current highly competitive admissions landscape; Noel breaks down these large tasks into more manageable items for students. He delivers honest and direct feedback to push students to develop themselves and their materials in a healthy way, but one that requires work on both ends of the counseling partnership. 

When he’s not coaching, Noel enjoys cooking, running, and hiking, traveling to new places, practicing language skills (French, Spanish, Italian, and a little Arabic), and watching a wide variety of movies.

Alec has a Bachelor’s degree in both Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Asian Studies from Rice University and an MBA from Stanford University. He has several years of experience helping college candidates get into their dream schools.

As a coach, Alec enjoys helping others find confidence and pride in what sets them apart. Essentially, he loves to see students embark on journeys to further cultivate their individuality. His greatest strength when working with Quad applicants is his ability to help them find their confidence and voice. Alec understands the difficulty in articulating the “why” behind your experiences and decisions when applying to college. He prides himself on his ability to help students dig deep so they can determine the motivations behind their choices, whether it's their reason for pursuing an activity, a school, or a program.

Students Alec has recently coached have gotten accepted into UC Berkeley, Yale University, Princeton University, MIT, Stanford University, Washington University St. Louis, Rice University, and Vanderbilt University.

In Alec’s free time, he enjoys taking courses online, making up games, and solving computer science problems.

Alec’s Pro Tip?

Students do better in the interview when they answer extemporaneously from the heart rather than when they memorize what "should be said".