YouTube Tufts Admissions Videos Raise Questions

Feb. 24, 2010— -- When it comes to applying to college, 18-year-old Christian Holmes has become a pro. The Darien, Conn., high school senior has written multiple essays, submitted letters of recommendation, and sent a transcript to each of the 10 different schools to which he applied.

But one school asked for something different: a video.

Tufts University, outside Boston, is one of the first higher-learning institutions to provide an option on its official admissions application for students to submit a video essay if they choose to. And some students say these videos have made the admissions process much more enjoyable.

Lee Coffin, dean of admissions at Tufts, says applicants are asked to submit a one-minute video that "says something" about themselves.

"They're still writing three other essays as part of our application. We're not abandoning writing. This is something extra," he said.

Out of the 15,400 applications Tufts received this year, about 1,000 of them included a video. Some sent a DVD while others, like Holmes, uploaded their video to YouTube and included the link on their application.

Coffin said they evaluate each video on its content, not its production value.

Nevertheless, some applicants have produced brow-raising videos in order to help tell their stories.

They are as creative as they are diverse: from stop-action photography to building and flying a remote-controlled elephant (the Tufts mascot). One applicant performed a card trick. Another performed a rap song.

With no prior video editing experience, Holmes spent four hours on his mother's webcam-equipped laptop splicing clips of James Lipton, the host of Bravo's "Inside the Actor's Studio," interviewing a guest. He then replaced the guest's answers with video clips of his own.

Now the Tufts admissions committee knows his favorite and least favorite words, what profession he'd like to pursue, and what he hopes God says to him when he reaches the pearly gates of heaven.