Are YouTube Videos College Applications 2.0?
The college essay on paper? That’s so last year. How about a college essay and a YouTube video?Go to YouTube and search for Tufts University and you may stumble on “On a Date with Tufts University.” Or maybe “My Big Fat Greek Tufts Supplement.”
These and other videos are out there because for the class of 2014, Tufts began letting applicants create YouTube videos as an optional supplement to the two required essays. About 1,000 of the school’s 15,000 applicants submitted videos, and the number is growing.
As are the page views of the videos, some of which have hit the thousands.
“At heart, this is all about a conversation between a kid and an admissions officer,” said Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions. “You see their floppy hair and their messy bedrooms, and you get a sense of who they are. We have a lot of information about applicants, but the videos let them share their voice.”
Like Live RESPONSE: Though we can certainly appreciate that Tufts is courageously allowing students to post videos as part of their college applications, wouldn't the student be better served by keeping them private and secure in a college only account? The purpose of supplementing a college application is to allow the student a voice in the process, not to create an online popularity contest and a video that may follow them to their 40th birthday party..."Surprise! Look what we found online!" The video interview should be considered with the same reverence that the essay or short answers on the Commonapp would be. Imagine the horror if student essays were posted online, shared with the world. At 17 or 18 the desire to please, reveal and share may override a student's best judgement to keep some things private. Let's leave the faux reality shows to Hollywood and maintain the educational integrity of the application.
Source Article: BostInno, January 2012
