Michael Montgomery

A native Mainer, Michael’s been in the admissions world for nearly 30 years, at a variety of institutions, selectivity levels, and has worn many hats over that time. His undergraduate degree in History at Colby College (ME) certainly prepared him for the amount of reading that applications presented, for the next ten years at his alma mater. Michael expanded his horizons by choosing Vanderbilt/Peabody College for his M.Ed. (over an Ivy!) and living in Nashville for two formative years, where he was an officer for Peabody’s Graduate Student Association, and where he read applications for the undergraduate admissions office.

After his time at Colby and earning his M.Ed., Michael worked at Dickinson (PA), Unity (ME), Franklin & Marshall (PA), and Hampshire (MA) colleges—serving at the last as Senior Associate Director of Admissions—plus a temporary stint as “road warrior” for the University of Maine at Orono. In addition to his formal admissions roles, he also has helped with application and essay proofing and editing; scholarship review; and most recently, guiding family’s and friends’ children informally through this process, and to helpful resources that aid in the three phases of the College Process: Search, Application, and Choice. His favorite parts of his career revolve around getting to know students, and engaging with their best selves—and helping them present their best selves to admissions committees and on applications. Interviewer, athletic liaison, transfer coordinator, communications specialist, event manager… there isn’t much he hasn’t done or seen in his career.

Since 2018, Michael’s firmly planted again in central Maine with his wife and young daughter. They’re about an hour from where several previous generations of his family settled in the midcoast; and where the family still maintains a rustic cottage, connecting all those generations. He grew up in Rockland, “The Lobster Capital of The World”, where there’s an annual festival celebrating the crustacean—but he doesn’t eat ‘em… no matter how much melted butter is involved.