I was just thinking about the college essay. It’s so hard for people to truly reveal themselves in a 650 word (I forget the actual count) essay. I feel like colleges would get a better feel for people if they went over to a 1 minute video. They would actually get to hear, see and react to the student and their personality so much more than they would reading about a random topic like why someone ate chocolate chip ice-cream for 16 years and then ate pistachio and had some epic moment of self discovery. I don’t know. I feel like colleges want to build a diverse student body and fill it with all different personality types, and a video might be a more effective way of getting to know an applicant. Maybe it will some day be an option to choose which you would like to submit.
I think colleges also get an idea of the writing ability of a college student through the essays.
Essays don’t just showcase your personality. They also demonstrate your ability to critically think and respond in a unique yet structured manner.
Although, I was asked to submit a video in addition to some essays in a few applications.
I think a writing sample would be a great addition to the application process to show your writing skills/strengths, but it’s so hard to capture a person’s ‘je ne se quoi’ by answering a prompt, you know what I mean?
I’m happy to hear that some colleges ask for a video. I hope you had fun making it 
Some schools, like Goucher, accept a video application. Also, look up zeemee. Its now an app only, but many colleges like zeemee videos.
Zeemee has been around since 2014. There are many partner colleges and it seemed to be on the rise, but not sure what happened, but it seemed to be quiescent when it went to the app only format. Some schools like Tulane were initially bullish on zeemee but now don’t seem to mention it anymore. Not sure what happened there.
They shouldn’t be writing about ice cream, lol.
The essay just doesn’t matter as much to all colleges. It’s the top ones that want to see you get the point and can provide a relevant view. I don’t think extemporaneous is the point. Or personality, per se.