Prospective Tufts University students who are tired of writing essay after essay can now use YouTube to showcase their qualifications.
Students who applied to Tufts class of 2014 had the option of uploading a one-minute video to YouTube as a supplement to their application.
“Share a one-minute video that says something about you,” the supplement instructions states. “Upload it to YouTube or another easily accessible Web site, and give us the URL. What you do or say is totally up to you.”
Lee Coffin, Tufts’ Dean of Admissions, said in a New York Times article Monday that this new multimedia option allows students to showcase “a creativity and personality that would be hard to convey on paper.”
Coffin also discussed the videos in his blog about the Tufts Admissions Office’s essay-reading process.
“Tufts offered a “video essay’ option this year . . . so every once in a while the paper yields to a real kid who’s dancing or chatting or juggling on my computer screen, and that’s been an unexpected treat,” he wrote.
Most videos are visual displays of applicants’ talents and hobbies. Videos range from students dancing to solving a Rubix Cube to creating a stop-motion film.
Sam Bleiberg, a senior at Santa Monica High School in California, said he applied to Tufts but chose not to submit a video.
“I better express myself through writing, but I understand why it would be a viable option for people who are in the visual and performing arts,” he said.
Jillian Silver is a senior at Westover School in Connecticut. She was admitted early decision and also chose not to submit a video. However, she said she likes the YouTube option for the social networking it provided after her acceptance.
After joining the “Tufts 2014” group on Facebook, she was able to look up other admitted students’ entries and get to know the incoming class a little better.
“It was cool to see other people who got admitted and what they’re going to be like,” she said. “It was a really great way for me to get to know other incoming freshman.”
However, not everyone is enthusiastic about the supplement.
“I think it’s a little silly,” said Tufts freshman Danielle Moscovitch. “It’s a fun idea, but I would think that people generally want to be anonymous.”
She also said people outside the admissions office who watch the videos tend to dwell on their comedic value.
“There are a lot of applicants who make some pretty stupid videos that probably hurt their application,” she said. “A lot of us watch them and make fun of them.”
Regarding whether or not Boston University would ever pick up such an idea, Executive Admissions Director Kelly Walter said she is doubtful, but maintains that students have always had the option to submit digital media.
“Kudos to Tufts for coming up for this idea,” she said. “However it’s important to know that [BU] accepts many supplementary materials, such as a portfolio or a CD. Students are already sending us information about the special artistic abilities they’d like us to be aware of, so the notion of a “digital addendum’ isn’t new.”
Walter also expressed concern over whether a YouTube option would even be possible at a school as large as BU.
“I personally like the idea, but our volume of applications has to be taken into consideration,” she said. “Tufts’ application volume is significantly smaller than ours, about 16,000 as opposed to our 38,000, so we want to make sure that what we’re asking of both the applicants and staff is realistic.”
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