Everything Is Video
Innovation, Video, and ECHOs
One way to innovate in higher ed admissions is to look at tech trends elsewhere in society and then ask why that tech trend doesn’t show up in the application process. There’s an inherent conservatism in admissions offices, as the security guards/admissions officers1 guide a process that preserves and protects their institution’s reputation.
Nonetheless, if one can figure out a way to adapt a trend so that it (a) works for students (i.e., it’s something that students will appreciate and take advantage of) and (b) works for admissions officers (i.e., it brings them useful information they don’t already have in an easy-to-process format), then one might have something with enough inertia to overcome these institutional guardians’ resistance to change.
One trend with undeniable inertia is video. A few months back, social commentator Derek Thomson wrote a popular Substack entry, “Everything is Television”. His point is that the different types of media we consume are converging from disparate forms into one thing: “the continuous flow of episodic video”. It’s a great article full of interesting cultural observations.
Of course, we’re all living this. Video is becoming easier to participate in, produce, and distribute, so there’s more of it. Video conferencing is so straightforward that we do it instead of making a phone call. All of our phones have front- and rear-facing video cameras and contain the ability to edit video with an ease that wasn’t even possible just a short time ago.
In the life of the student, Thomson’s assertion could be rephrased as “Everything is Video”. Not only are students spending hours on TikTok and Instagram and consuming much of their “traditional” entertainment via Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, but they are also taking online classes and interviewing for jobs over Zoom.
And while video is becoming even more prevalent for students, the written word is losing its power. Authorship has always been an issue with the written word—ghost writers are not new—but now the ghost writer is ChatGPT and right at everyone’s fingertips. Before ChatGPT, administrators and educators typically assumed student authorship of writing they received (and maybe even then they shouldn’t have). Now, administrators realize that assigned papers have plummeted in educational value, and admissions officers can’t deny that the college essay emperor has no clothes.
Video is attractive precisely because it can reinforce authenticity. While yes, video can be edited and filtered, if it’s produced in a context that restricts the bells and whistles of modern video production, it can provide a needed, authentic look at the student (this is what Glimpse does, and our interviews go even further in this regard). Ironically, the desire of many applicants to come across as “perfect” hurts their chances, as it makes them look fake and dull. Instead, better to be authentic, because then you also have the chance to be inspiring.
But it is not just students who are being impacted by ChatGPT. Teachers, as well, cannot resist the temptation to get some help from LLMs with repetitive tasks, like writing recommendation letters. Admissions officers see ChatGPT impacting teacher rec letters in a similar way as it has impacted essays—they are all starting to sound the same and becoming less useful.
This is why we launched ECHO. When video has thoughtful constraints, it can preserve authenticity. When easy to use, video can be the preferred medium. For many, recording an ECHO is easier than writing a recommendation letter. It’s more authentic as well—an admissions officer is able to receive a more nuanced look into what makes a student special. It can become an important data point in trying to understand the impact of an applicant in high school and then extrapolate their potential as a college student.
One of our favorite ECHOs this cycle was from a wrestling coach. As he recorded it with his phone while swiveling in a chair in his office, the viewer learned about this student from an adult who had spent hours with this applicant in stressful and challenging situations. The viewer gets the sense not only that the applicant was special but also that the coach would have seen writing a recommendation as an onerous chore. Anyone watching couldn’t help but smile.
We literally “see” the college admissions process more than anyone in the world. We have a clear “picture” of what applicants are doing in a way that no one else does. We love love love the impact of video and how it preserves authenticity. It does so in a process where the siren’s song of polish and perfection leads to many an applicant’s demise in the admissions committee room.
ECHO—along with our other video-based tools—neatly aligns with how video is simply everywhere. Of course, the admissions process will always lag behind broader cultural trends. But if one can help a security guard enjoy something that everyone else around them is already using, then maybe even admissions officers might be willing to try new things.
Equating admissions officers to security guards is not a criticism, but rather an observation with which many admissions officers would agree and even embrace. While it may be a simple observation, it’s in no way a simple job: Everyone on campus and outside of campus has things they want from the admissions office (more students for the classes I teach; more admits for kids from the high school where I’m a counselor; a spot for my own kid, given that I am a big donor; acceptance for a critical athletic recruit despite questions around their academic preparedness, etc.). It’s the job of an admissions officer to say “no” much more often than they say “yes”.