<p>I LOVE this option and I love seeing the amazing range of ideas.
Personal favorites: the flying elephant helicopter guy and the girl who used software from her internship to bring Lady Gaga songs to her high school band.</p>
<p>Love the guy that sings, Trevor Rancourt:It’s a Tufts Life.</p>
<p>“My son applied to Tufts and chose to believe that when Tufts said the essay (and video option) was “optional,” that it truly was ‘optional.’”
I believe that one of the admission officers’ blogs says that the admit rate is equal for people who did and did not do an optional essay.</p>
<p>This is ludicrous and a bit cruel. It’s one thing for a college to ask students to submit vidos of themselves to the admissions committee. This can be a great way for unique, outgoing, and talented students to show a different side of themselves to the admissions committee and may help those who are expressive but not great writers. HOWEVER, letting Youtube host these videos, where they will be subject to nasty comments and rated by a sometimes hostile and unqualified community will necessarily influence the admissions committee, is positively cruel. It’s as exploitative as that proposed reality show following Ivy league applicants!</p>
<p><…as that proposed reality show following Ivy league applicants!>>></p>
<p>Really, what next?? Oh, gosh, is nothing sacrosanct. Such a show is sure to send a few parents and their children over the edge. I don’t know whether to laugh or cringe.</p>
<p>As an aside–you don’t need to look to Youtube comments to find nasty ones–there were a few, nasty (smokescreen for jealous) comments posted here on CC about some of the videos. Imagine that.</p>
<p>The topic as to whether or not comments are a factor (subconscious or conscious) has already been discussed- (By a Tufts admissions person, no less!) I don’t know what other confirmation you need. </p>
<p>I believe that there is a benefit for these videos being public, because I think that there is such a lack of transparency to the whole college process that sometimes it’s nice to see what other applicants are up to!</p>
<p>pwoods (et al.), Tufts does NOT require that the videos be posted in a public arena. I get your point–I’ve advised applicants not to share essays on this site. But, I’m learning that the times have passed me by. A lot of young people feel quite comfortable living their lives in public.</p>
<p>Since the Times and the Globe articles have come out, I’ve watched a lot of the videos. What I’ve learned is that there is enormous leeway in what makes an effective presentation. Some of them are works of art, and others are simply an efficient way of showing a little something. I think they are all pretty cool in their own ways, so I’m grateful that the applicants felt comfortable sharing them with me.</p>
<p>I have been followiing the discussion of the infamous videos both here as well as in the New York Times blog comment section. Most of those who object to the videos, and about 95% of those who are outraged by them and see them as a harbinger of all sort of social ills, miss the crucial thing about the videos: THEY ARE OPTIONAL. They are not replacing traditional essays (of which the Tufts application already has substantially more than most other schools) and they ARE NOT REQUIRED. Along with about eight optional essay prompts, the video is one possibility for students who want one more opportunity to express themselves. So a lot of the fire-and-brimstone about the decline of standards, the end of literacy, the affront to privacy, etc. seems over the top, since students are not penalized for not doing any of the optional submissions. Anyone who finds the video problematic can choose to write an optional essay – or not. (I was particularly amused by the seemingly outraged applicant who announced on the NYTimes site that s/he was withdrawing her/his applicant and demanding the admission fee back. Surely an applicant who did even a cursory read of the application while filling it out would have noticed the video option. Which makes me suspect that a lot of the huffing and puffing is actually coming from people with no knowledge of what the Tufts application entails.) That said, I’m wondering what all the press that this story is getting will mean for Tufts’ yield, reputation as academically rigorous, etc. I’ll bet the admissions dean is regretting his statement about being so wowed by one video that he’d admit that applicant on the video alone!</p>
<p>“So a lot of the fire-and-brimstone about the decline of standards, the end of literacy, the affront to privacy, etc. seems over the top, since students are not penalized for not doing any of the optional submissions. Anyone who finds the video problematic can choose to write an optional essay – or not.”</p>
<p>Agreed! I was disappointed that the Times failed to emphasize that this was optional and that the students were required to write three essays. Most of the comments suggest that the students who submitted videos are under qualified applicants looking for a way around the system – considering that the average SAT scores are over 2100 and the GPA are around 3.8, I’m sure that none of the students are “morons” as one commenter posted. </p>
<p>On the bright side, because of all the attention my video has been getting, I had a band message me asking me to shoot them a music video! They’re unsigned, so they can’t afford real marketing besides Youtube. I want to work in advertising or be a music video director one day, so I’ll be happy to promote them 
So, in an indirect way, thank you Tufts for giving me those 15 minutes of fame. I’m taking advantage of the exposure as much as I can haha.</p>
<p>Just to be clear (particularly having read the ridiculous comments against this on “The Choice”) I don’t oppose Tuft’s plan to let applicants submit videos. I actually think it’s great, since it allows though who are very creative but only have mediocre writing skills to express themselves. What really bothers me (and led me post the admittedly extreme comment above) is that so many of these videos are public, and are being rated by the general public. I think it’s fine if the admissions officers evaluate the videos, but not if everyone else does. It’s true that they don’t have to be posted to Youtube, but that is the default hosting site, so I’m not surprised most people would upload them there. I think it would be much better for Tufts to require applicants to upload them directly to a secure site run by the university. If applicants want to cross-post them to Youtube, the same way applicants allow CCers to read their essays, then fine. But it should be possible to create a video and ensure that only the admissions committee sees it.</p>
<p>
Rock on. \m/</p>
<p>my video was an actual film…</p>
<p>NPR did a special on these videos, and a video that a good friend of mine made was one of the five videos whose audio was played. I think its a good sign that he got in, but what do you guys think? btw, he is a strong applicant with 4.5 GPA, 2100 SAT, good SAT2, good EC, etc.</p>
<p>I think he’s in. Any chance you can provide a link to the video? (I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far/love seeing the younger generation’s creativity).</p>