A number of colleges, including Tufts University and the University of Chicago, are now accepting YouTube videos from prospective students as part of their application. At these select schools students have the option to include a YouTube video displaying their talent(s) along with the standard required essays. Tufts asks for a one-minute video that “says something about you.”
Lee Coffin, the dean of undergraduate admissions, said the idea came to him last spring as he watched a YouTube video someone had sent him. “I thought, ‘If this kid applied to Tufts, I’d admit him in a minute, without anything else,’ ” Mr. Coffin said.
In the latest applicant pool for Tufts 1,000 of the 15,000 prospectives submitted a video. And many of these videos are garnering a big following. Amelia Downs’ video that combines “two of [her] favorite things: being a nerd and dancing” has over 77,000 views! Though it’s something that might get her into college, it’s also an artifact I would not want others to see. In the end, this is a surprising and exciting decision made by colleges; it gives students a visually creative way to express who they are outside the realm of those boring essays.
Though he may already forgotten his trip to the dentist, David is shoe-in for NYU Tisch, wouldn’t you say?
That got her into Tufts??? REALLY????!!!!???
We don’t know if she got into Tufts. All we know is that this is the video she submitted with her application. But who knows–it could help her chances since she’s one of the first to do it!