While the nation’s top film schools require applicants to submit a film they’ve made, along with their applications, Goucher recently announced that applicants can submit a two—minute video instead of an application. They can also apply the “regular” way instead.
The video’s only requirement is that it address the following prompt: “How do you see yourself at Goucher?” Videos will be judged on their “content/thoughtfulness,” “structure/organization,” and “clarity/effectiveness.” Students who choose to apply this way will also have to send two samples of high school work, at least one of them a graded writing assignment. (The other must “demonstrate college readiness.”)
Your first question might be, “What’s Goucher?” Goucher is a small liberal-arts college founded in 1885 that has the distinction of being one of the 44 colleges included in “Colleges That Change Lives,” a book that highlights some of the country’s most unique smaller schools that in the past might have been overlooked. While being a CTCL school certainly delivers glowing PR in its own right (CTCL schools even go on a college fair tour together), Goucher is still in the same boat as hundreds of other small private colleges in the U.S. that are always in need of a boost in applicants, greater visibility, and, bottom line, enough enrolled students to fill beds and pay bills. It has its unique attributes, such as its requirement that all students either study abroad or do an international internship, that make Goucher stand out. But this move takes the cake.
Goucher president Jose Antonio Bowen was quoted as saying, “”There are a lot of students out there [for whom] the transcript doesn’t look the way they want it to look. They were totally focused on music or drama or the soccer team, and so for whatever reason, they have a smudge or two on their transcripts.” Transcripts, he said, “are predictors of how well you will do in school, not how well you will do in life.”
Debates about the merits of the strategy aside, Goucher was frank in admitting the attention wouldn’t hurt its application numbers.
“Any college president who tells you they’re not worried about enrollment is either at Harvard or they’re lying,” Bowen told the Washington Post.
Of course Goucher is not the first school to employ application quirks (though perhaps it is the most drastic). Bard College started its “entrance exam” last year in lieu of a traditional application (which is still accepted—test-optional). Bard staff evaluates the four-essay exam and grades of B+ or better are admitted. Bard also has an “immediate decision” option whereby applicants come to Bard for an interview (and also apply via traditional application). They find out two days later whether they are accepted.
The New School in New York City allows you to submit a graded paper instead of test scores. Hampshire College is test-blind—that is, not test-optional, rather, if you submit test scores, they will not be considered at all. Tufts was the first to allow students to submit a video along with their application (but not in place of anything else) back in 2010, and the Jumbo admissions office is also known for its out-of-the-box essay questions (sample this year: “Celebrate your nerdy side.”)
But Goucher may have just broken the mold. It will be interesting to see who follows, and how.