More on YouTubing the College Admissions Rapids

Monday, 08 March 2010 07:42

More on YouTubing the College Admissions Rapids Posting videos on YouTube to substitute for an application essay may be the latest craze in college admissions, but I doubt that too many colleges are going to adopt this practice. While a video might have value if it actually says something about the applicant, unless access to the video is limited to only the admissions committee, I don’t see where it’s in the applicant’s best interest to have a video publicly displayed. This reminds me of what happened in the spring of 2002 when a dean of admissions at Princeton University hacked into Yale University's website of online admissions decisions and was able to hedge Princeton’s bets. If Princeton was to accept a student that Yale accepted, they had to be concerned that the student might end up going to Yale instead, and this would lower their yield and ranking in US News and World Report.                                          True, that by viewing a student’s YouTube video, an admissions counselor at another college won’t be privy to the admissions decision at the college for which the video was made, but when the applicant says in the video that the college is his first choice, this is more information than admissions counselors at other colleges need to have.   Read more about “YouTubing the College Admissions Rapids” in our March newsletter.