Tufts University is now allowing its applicants to submit videos with their SAT scores and GPA.
Despite our love for smart phones, online classes and almost all things digital, we don’t agree with the optional video portion as part of the college application packet.
Unless the student is applying for a field that requires expertise in creating videos, then the submission of one seems like a waste of time.
A live interview with an applicant through Skype or similar software programs would allow admissions officers to get a feel for students for free.
Creating a video is not taught as a part of regular high school curriculum. Even though the video is optional, it puts additional and unnecessary stress on people.
Students could be bothered with the task of learning how to design, shoot and edit a video opposed to studying for their next test.
The entire thing could easily end up a popularity contest, too. The most visited site for homemade videos, YouTube, is clearly driven not by the quality of the videos submitted but by the popularity of them. Getting into college should not be on the same level as Internet fame. It should be above it — with rigorous requirements such as high SAT and GPA scores.
A quality video could easily be obtained without extra time and energy from the student — if they are willing to pay. With the introduction of SAT study courses, students have been able to pay to learn tips and techniques that are promised to deliver a higher score. Google has about 617,000 results when you search the phrase “SAT study courses,” which proves how attractive aiding college-bound kids is as a business.
Nothing is stopping more experienced videographers from providing financially prepared students a quality product. This will allow students with more money an unfair advantage since they can simply purchase a quality video.
At least free study guides for the SAT can be found online and at libraries. The tools for creating a video, such as the camera and editing software, are not free, nor are videographers.
In addition to the unnecessary strains the video process would put on students, the attempt to make the college application process more digital would do the same thing to college admissions officers.
Most colleges and universities have and are still dealing with tremendous budget cuts.
Piling on more projects, such as viewing and judging videos, to admissions officers is unfair, and for some, useless.
Kathleen Kingsbury, an education reporter for The Daily Beast Web site, talked with National Public Radio about how most college admissions officers aren’t even thinking about the role videos play in the application process.
She explained that because colleges are being flooded with applicants, especially at public universities, that scores and grades matter most this year.
Although it was nice for Tufts to attempt to make the college application process more updated, a video portion of the college application packet would be difficult to implement and ultimately unnecessary.
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