Prospie Applies Early with 248 Others
By Caleb Oken-Berg
News Editor

For most of high school, Michael Bayley had no idea what he wanted in a college. In the back of his mind, he had always figured that he would end up at a nearby state university, walking at least a half-mile to class and attending large lectures filled with hundreds of students.

Then, last spring, he set foot on the Pomona College campus.

“It was all in one day that I realized what I wanted,” said the senior at Lincoln, a public high school in Portland, Oregon. “I went from thinking I would just go to the University of Oregon, to realizing that I really wanted a small school where teachers actually know your name.”

Although he visited several other California schools, Michael had basically made up his mind. By that summer, he was certain that Pomona was his top choice, and he decided to apply Early Decision. On the morning of November 15, he signed the last page of his application and sent it off to the waiting hands of admissions officers in Sumner Hall.

“It was a little bit tough having the deadline earlier,” said Michael, one of 249 high school seniors who submitted applications to Pomona’s Early Decision program. “Getting things in early is not my forte.”

Michael is applying to Pomona during the most competitive period in Pomona’s history. Last year, Pomona had a total of 4,539 applicants, 250 of them applying Early Decision. Overall, the acceptance rate dropped to an all-time low of 23 percent.

Ultimately, in addition to submitting the common application online, Michael sent the College a CD of his personally created music, the Pomona supplement, a personal resume, and an extra hard copy of his application.

Michael heard about Pomona for the very first time in December 2002. A close friend’s sister was accepted Early Decision, and would be attending the College as a member of the class of 2006.

“When I first heard about it, I wasn’t immediately interested because I didn’t know what I wanted,” he said. But throughout the next several months, Michael slowly began to hear more about the College through family, friends, and mailings. In March 2003, Michael and his father, set out on a road trip to California with the intention of visiting a variety of colleges and universities. Pomona was the first overnight stay, and that was all it took for Michael to realize what he wanted.

After sitting in on courses in Macroeconomics, French, and Astronomy, Michael came away with a new appreciation for small classes and quality professors.

“I visited while I was in the middle of my worst class in high school, with one of the worst teachers I’ve ever had,” he said. “After seeing the professors at Pomona who had such energy and passion, who really seemed to care about what they were teaching, it seemed to make learning seem much more appealing.”

Michael was also impressed with many aspects of the College that he thought current students might take for granted. Amongst them were the reclining chairs in classrooms, smooth integration of PowerPoint presentations during lectures, and the food in the dining halls.

“He just seemed really excited and passionate about everything,” said Megan Cribbs ’06, who showed Michael around campus.

Although the dorms did not initially strike him as especially great, after visiting other college campuses with tighter and smaller living facilities, Michael’s appreciation for housing at Pomona grew considerably.

“I picked him up the next day and he said ‘Dad, I hate to say this, but this is where I want to go,’” said Michael’s father Bruce Bayley. “I couldn’t show him anywhere else.”

Michael and his father visited Occidental, Cal Poly Pomona, and several University of California schools including UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, and UC Santa Barbara. But Michael saw little attraction in the large campus buildings.

“Before I visited Pomona, it was just a matter of finding any place to visit,” he said. “After I visited it was, ‘What do I need to do from here on out to get in here?’”

As the oldest child in the family, Michael got little help from his parents, who have not been through the search process since they attended college several decades ago. As Michael pointed out, a lot has changed about applying to college since then.

“I wish my parents knew more about it,” he said, “but I’m glad they didn’t put any pressure on me to go any one place.”

Dean of Admissions Bruce Poch asserts that the best possible way to choose a college is to become informed about the school, and to be honest in the application process.

“The basic advice is to read what is readable and know what is knowable,” Poch said. “People should be very true to their own sense of how they learn, and what style of teaching they prefer, rather than just the institution’s appearance on a Top 10 list.”

Late in his junior year, Michael began to lean more and more toward applying Early Decision. He had a near-perfect 3.98 Grade Point Average and a plethora of International Baccalaureate (IB) courses; his involvement in several extracurricular and community service projects were sure to demonstrate his well-rounded nature.

Although these achievements may be remarkable, they are typical of many students accepted to Pomona. Over a quarter of the Class of 2007 was either a Valedictorian or Saluatorian of their high school class. More than three-quarters of admitted students last year participated in community service; slightly less than half were musicians.

Even with his grades and extracurriculars, Michael still had one major barrier ahead of him: taking the SATs.

“After visiting, all I could really do was perform my best on the SATs,” Michael said. “As much as they want to say that SATs aren’t really important, I knew that they definitely were going to be.”

Michael was not thrilled with the scores he got back from his first time around, and decided to study key concepts over the summer and take the test again in the fall. He did not sign up for any SAT preparatory classes, opting instead to review several times a week on his own. The second time around he received a 1460 combined verbal and math score. The median score for the Class of 2007 was 1450, with over ten percent receiving a perfect 800 on either math or verbal.

Hoping to add a bit more to his application, Michael took several SAT II subject exams at the end of junior year and in November of his senior year. He took Writing, Math, Physics, and French; the latter, according to Michael, “went horribly.”

In the fall, he asked his junior IB English teacher and current statistics instructor to write him recommendations; both agreed to send letters to Pomona.

With standardized tests and recommendations out of the way, Michael focused his attention on the essays, choosing to write about his experiences as a member of the cross-country team.

“I wouldn’t say it was your typical ‘I worked hard and it paid off’ sports story,” he said. “It was actually about a race I ran and didn’t run hard. Instead of killing myself, I ran slow. It was the best race I ever had- I took everything in, didn’t suffer, and had a lot of fun.”

Michael did not write his second essay until a week and a half before the application deadline, but felt that it was probably the better of the two. He also included a resume with his application, which he contends allowed him to show admissions officers that the activities he was involved in during high school were not just geared toward getting him admitted to college, but rather ones that he was truly passionate about.

“We’re looking for people who have done really well and who have had a tough program,” Poch said. “Beyond the ability to do work is just how interesting the person will be in this small community, not just are they the same kid who could get into Harvard.” Poch added that admissions officers are looking for someone who does not necessarily have “a laundry list of extracurricular activities, but people who are really doing stuff.”

Back in Portland on the morning of November 15, Michael was still putting together the final pieces of his application.

“It was literally down to the last minute- I was flying through finishing my cover letter, packing it up, and throwing it to my dad on my way out the door to a recreational soccer game,” he said. “I thrive on those kind of thrills. As long as they accepted my application, it’s all good.”

Poch asserted that an application turned in a month before the deadline has little weight over one turned in at the last minute.

“They may get read before the other ones, and maybe there is a tendency to be a little more generous,” he said. “But honestly, we’ve got a set of checks and balances, and chances are teachers aren’t going to get their recommendations in then anyway. Plus, a lot happens senior year, and sometimes its worth the wait to have something to write about. People grow up a lot.”

Michael interviewed with a Portland-area alumnus shortly after turning in his application, the final step in a process that began almost a year before. He contends that while at times the process was stressful, overall it was beneficial.

“A lot of things during the application process weren’t just me putting down on paper what I already knew about myself,” he said. “It was much more of a self-discovery process. The essay forced me to understand why certain events in my life were significant to me.”

With admission decisions promised to applicants by December 15, Michael has applications for Whitman, Occidental, Carleton, and Willamette Colleges “sitting by the door.” He contends that he’s not all that nervous to hear back from Pomona. Last year, 112 out of 250 applicants were admitted Early Decision.

“Obviously Pomona is my first choice, but I’ll either get in or I won’t,” he said. “I’m not just sitting here in a cold sweat waiting for the envelope.”