Bruce Poch served as Vice President and Dean of Admissions at Pomona College for 23 years before stepping down in 2010. Prior to his service at Pomona, Poch was associate dean of admissions at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.

Poch graduated from local public schools in his hometown of Elizabeth, New  Jersey. He earned his A.B. in government and English from Oberlin College in Ohio, the first coeducational college in the United States and the first in the U.S. to admit  students of African descent in a multiracial environment. He later earned his Ed.M. from Harvard University in Social Policy and Planning.

He has worked with the Consortium on Financing Higher Education, the College Board, the National Association for College Admission Counseling and the Education Conservancy. He serves on the Board of Academic Advisors for QuestBridge, a program dedicated to providing academic and scholarship opportunities for low-income, first generation to college students and for Pomona College has forged partnerships with more than 25 regional and national programs focusing on underrepresented low income and first-generation students including The Posse Foundation, The Arkansas Commitment, A Better Chance, the Venture Scholars Program, Bright Prospects, College Match, The Fulfillment Fund, Prep for Prep, The Schuler Foundation Scholars Program and The Teak Foundation Scholars, among others.

Poch frequently is cited by reporters in articles on the admission process and issues of access and equity for students. His comments have appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, US News and World Report, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, USA Today, Newsweek, and Business Week. He has also appeared on CBS News, National Public Radio, NBC News, the Today Show, and MSNBC, and other national media outlets.

He has authored several recent articles published in Newsweek and Newsweek-Kaplan Guides and their online affiliate MSNBC and the New York Times and contributed a chapter to the seminal book, College Unranked, edited by Lloyd Thacker of the Education Conservancy and published by Harvard University Press.