The onslaught of AI onslaught on higher education was particularly worrying for university admissions officers. Do students disguise chatbots? According to a 2024 survey, one in three senior high school students who applied for university between 2023 and 2024 used AI in their essays. In response, more and more universities are inviting applicants to submit their own “video introductions” in addition to the usual gauntlets of personal essays, academic transcripts, extracurricular activities and test scores. Many of these schools are highly selective, including Brown, Duke, Vanderbilt, the University of Chicago and Claremont McKenna. However, low profile schools like Babson College in Massachusetts and Lawrence University in Wisconsin also encourage video submissions.
Supporters argue that the video submissions are an antidote to the misconduct of AI-written essays to the rising tragedy. “If you ask people why universities use this, I think there are three reasons: ChatGpt, ChatGpt, and ChatGpt.” “Essays are no longer worth it. It's just reality.” Plus, Crawford claims that the video is definitely an easy lift for Gen Z and beyond digital natives, many of which already share their lives on social media. “Students have appeared on Instagram, Tiktok, Snapchat and YouTube. That's how they communicate. It's video video,” he said.
More than 30 schools have registered on the company's glimpse platform since their launch in 2023, Crawford said. Students record 90-second “talking head” videos from their mobile phones and computers. According to Crawford, the platform expects to process at least 50,000 video submissions for this admission cycle, but the total could be triple. He said the number of universities to sign up for is “growing every day.”
However, the video college application also raises a different leg to wealthy applicants than peers with fewer affs, especially when the video is cleverly produced and the applicants are well scripted. Furthermore, they exacerbate the risk of bias and legal liability (specific dangers in Trump's anti-DEI era). At worst, tiktok-style self-promotion can exacerbate the inequality that puts elite colleges in the crosshairs.
Even before AI, university admission essays were honeeded by parents, teachers, counselors and paid consultants. A quarter of Harvard's classes in 2027 reportedly relied on paid assistance for their applications. However, the video takes adult support to a new level of luxury. “The whole process rewards people who can pay to help with these things,” says Admiss Counsorer Anna Ivey, founder of Anti-Consulting. “This is another thing that benefits people who can get the payment.”
For that credibility, Glimpse's platform does not allow students to upload gorgeous, Oscar-worthy productions.
However, schools like Brown and the University of Chicago do not have such restrictions on the format (although Brown is sometimes a glimpse of it as an option). It implicitly invites all sorts of over-the-top submissions to fuel the new cottage industry. While many private university counselors now offer video submission consultations as part of their services, specialized university application video production companies are beginning to sprout. Already, this option has launched an arms race among applicants who post submissions online.
For example, Anika Suman's College Admissions video has earned over 905,000 views on YouTube. The video, entitled “Accepted Brown Video Portfolio (Class 2027)” is a two-minute showcase of Anica's achievements. Demonstrate in traditional Indian dance groups, sing in choirs, research in the Neuroscience Institute, develop robotic prostheses for amputees, and establish STEM clubs at schools. Her presentation is engaging, clear and confident. Ensuring that you will be able to send your parents and aspiring students mentally into self-doubt. She may have skipped hiring a consultant, but for her comically perfect Ivy League resume and video editing skills.
Search for “College Application Video” on YouTube and find dozens more videos from the overwhelmingly impressive and creative applications. One student, whose video had accumulated 188,000 views, used stuffed animals to showcase aspects of his life, from roller coaster enthusiasts to poetry performers at national conventions. Another video (810,000 views) used animated fictional friends to highlight the artistic skills of the students.
Most videos feature engaging music, eye-catching graphics, seamless editing and compelling narration. Each of these adolescents has perfect skin. Most of these students look wealthy. The bedroom and kitchen are well equipped and the wardrobe is stylish. Exotic travel is prominent in digital autobiography. It is possible that the student edited these videos themselves, but someone else may have had a camera. Someone might have helped with the script, and my parents certainly bankrolled a lot of the activities filmed on video. Ironically, AI video tools can enhance digital stories, although the digital stories themselves should be AI checks.
Chicago advises applicants that there is no need to extensively rehearse or refine “recommended video profiles,” but suggests that highly refined videos posted by accepted students on YouTube are not. Low-income students can create exceptional videos just as low-budget indie films are sometimes hits, but wealthy students, like major franchise flicks, can be the winners.
Video submissions can support not only other ways to make the admissions process fairer, but also beautiful and richer ways. In a 2016 study by researchers from St Andrews in Scotland, Attractive People have long shown evidence of “beauty bias.” In a 2025 study on university admissions in China, researchers found that attractive students are more likely to be accepted by high-ranking universities. Conversely, a 2019 study published by the American Association of Medical Colleges found evidence of “discrimination against attractive, obese applicants” seeking radiology residents.
Video submissions may not benefit the university either. On the one hand, videos uploaded to glime or its competitor verifiers seem to be more desirable than the alumni interviews conducted by many schools. As Crawford of InitialView points out, relative standardization of Glimpse videos eliminates the risk of face-to-face interviews.
Meanwhile, the video cannot offer a university more than a flashy presentation of a student's resume. In fact, universities should question the basic premise of video applications. This means that essentially shallow video media can actually be “real” than traditional essays. The video really shows the real characters of the students. presentation One? “You don't see the child's personality,” argues Mandy Adler, founder of International College Counselor, an admissions consulting firm. “You see the child's personality in the movie.”
Video, Adler claims, rewards performance over reliability and achievement. “There are students who are better at performing and presenting than other kids. So, are there any attributes we are looking for?” she said. “I was very intelligent and I had some students who did everything right with grades and test scores, but it's not very good in front of the camera.”
The potentially tenuous connection between student video performance and the potential for university success is one reason why institutions known for their pioneering video applications are no longer dependent. In 2014, Goucher College in Maryland made the headline by announcing it would accept two-minute videos instead of traditional applications. The first cohort of video applicants was a strong performer, and the college was recognized for both its creativity and for its opening opportunities for students who may not be illuminated by traditional indicators.
Perhaps surprising, video options never left, and the university has returned to the traditional application process (video is not an option either). “Not as many students used it as you thought,” said Tania Rachkoskie, Vice President of Registration Management at Goucher. Ultimately, video applications became a relatively limited tool for admission decisions. “The great thing about that was that it was an opportunity to showcase the students who might have some hidden talent or the qualities of an application that doesn't have hidden non-character, whether it's grit or resolve, or something that doesn't necessarily pass through in traditional applications,” Rachkoskie said.
But she continued. “We probably had a student who admitted that they had no academic ability or preparation that needed to come out of high school. And can this student succeed here without hearing from the school counselors, without seeing if they want to submit test scores, or without looking at other quantitative data points?
Yet another risk for universities due to the rise of video submissions is legal. The Supreme Court's decision to end race-based affirmative action in college admissions and the relentless hostility towards the Trump administration's “Dei” has made universities less careful about how they make their admission decisions.
Crawford of InitialView says his platform doesn't ask students about race when uploading videos, but that's potentially obvious. “Perhaps under Employment Act, businesses will be at some level of risk for the same reasons that they don't want to attach photos to their resumes,” says Ivy, an admissions consultant with a law degree from the University of Chicago. This is the same reason why universities stopped requesting photos on the application a long time ago. The Trump administration now requires universities to hand over admissions data, including race data, so submitting videos is another thing that could be weaponized against schools.
The “equity” of university admission can be an eternally elusive goal, and AI is undoubtedly making the task difficult. However, the video moves the needle in the wrong direction.
However, assuming that video submissions remain, the “fairest” way to manage them is to standardize them to the platform, something that gives us a glimpse. The background must be neutral, as in the passport photo (no Mount Everest or Carnegie Hall). One creative way to level the field is Bowdoin's approach, where students choosing a video must respond spontaneously to random questions. This does not eliminate professional coaching, but students are less likely to be scripted.
Students who don't submit will not be penalized as videos must remain optional. And for students who want to skip the video and get their voices through, advice from an admissions counselor is simple. Do not use AI.
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