Joy Bagnol-Estudillo

Joy Bagnol-Estudillo is a mother of three adult children who were all accepted to UC Berkeley. Her interest in UC admissions grew because she was navigating her kids through the University of California (UC) application process and realized how overwhelming it was and wondered why qualified high school seniors did not get accepted to UC. She wanted to understand why the application process was so competitive. So she studied and earned a Specialized Certificate in College Counseling from UC San Diego Extension Program and began counseling students applying to UC. As a devoted attendee of the UC Counselor Conference for 11 years, her information for this book is derived from insights at the conferences, especially with the current UC admissions policies and SAT/ACT changes. Joy has been a UC Freshman Comprehensive Review Reader and Transfer Applicant Reader for eight years and has read almost 8500 UC admissions applications. She also answers questions on Quora specializing in UC admissions. Joy has a J.D. from New College of California School of Law, a B.A. in Broadcast Communication Arts, and a minor in Speech and Communication Studies from San Francisco State University. She was a radio announcer in San Francisco and plans to narrate this book on audiobook. Joy enjoys spending time with her loving husband, Ken, and children-- Caitlin (who graduated from UCLA), KJ (who graduated from UC Berkeley), and Zach (current student at UC Berkeley). She loved to explore Golden Gate Park in San Francisco with her Maltipoo, Benita, and now resides in Honolulu, Hawaii where she explores the beaches with Benita. This book is dedicated to the many Gen Z students who are now applying to college from a “Mom” who's been there. Her son, Zach Estudillo, also self-published his book of poetry and spoken word, called "Best of Pablum: Tracks of Trash from an Eighteen-year-old," available on Amazon Books.