The college application process gets more competitive each year. With the amount of high school students looking to go to college and growing class sizes, students are getting creative when it comes to making first impressions with their school of choice. Tufts University is catering to this demand for a creative addition to the tedious application process by accepting short, supplemental YouTube submissions in addition to the regular application process.
While the video submission is entirely optional, and some students may find it helpful to put a name to their face, or even give them that extra edge that an application on paper simply cannot, others might not feel the same way. Tufts has to be careful when accepting these additions. If the YouTube video is optional, Tufts should explain how much weight is given to the video and whether or not any weight is given on opting not to submit a video.
More importantly, could a video dilute the academic portion of the application process? Could a strong, likable personality shown off on video allow candidates with poorly written essays to take the spots of deserving candidates who either did not submit a video, or submitted a terrible one?
While Tufts is clearly trying to embrace social media and adapt to the new age, the university must regulate how they accept the videos and how they consider them &- a Herculean task when a video is publicly published to the millions of YouTube users who often comment with useless or offensive remarks.
Applying to college is a big and important decision. A life-changing one, even. The integration of YouTube along with the Common Application or any other normal application process, runs the risk of dumbing it down if not executed correctly.
Tufts is doing a good job of staying on top of things, reaching out to students who want to show their personalities beyond paper or even submit a video in place of an interview &-&- especially if an interview is not geographically or financially possible &- but it should never replace writing and other academic requirements, and needs to be handled delicately.
While we congratulate Tufts on its forward thinking, we hope that in the future, if this is something to be considered at Boston University, video submissions are to be done privately and not broadcast on YouTube. As our generation continues to live and learn the dangers of publishing things online, high school students should not necessarily be encouraged to post their college applications on YouTube. Writing a college essay is hard enough &- we don’t need 16, 17 and 18 year olds across America being subject to an online roast by some of the Internet’s most uneducated trollers.
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