Have any of your kids needed to create a Zeeme page for their college applications to make them “come alive”? It’s like a cross between a Facebook page and a Linkedin page. Student are invited to create a video about themselves, explaining what they’re passionate about, and post photos of friend and family, and of themselves engaging in various activities. This is, of course, in addition to the Common App, and the college’s supplemental questions and essay, and campus interview. The Zeeme can then be used after college admission as a limited social networking site for accept students to find roommates and other connections.
I must say, maybe because I’m an older parent, that I do think the college application process has gotten too cumbersome and yes, too intrusive. If a student does an EC and has described his/her participation on the application or a resume, is a picture really necessary? How much more will it contribute? For most activities, I would think very little. Our high school transcripts now substantiate participation in school activities, and presumably other students find ways to support their claims regarding outside EC’s, such as through teacher/adviser/coach recommendations, via awards and honors, and through arts supplements, to name just a few. In fact, the sample video on the website shows a girl taking advanced dance classes and performing on stage. Why not just submit a more formal version of that video as a talent supplement rather than as a cutesy i-phone video that includes her traipsing through the hallways of the studio, etc.?
Are colleges just trying to be current and keep up with the social media scene, or could there be a more nefarious purpose? Will colleges use the photos or videos to weed out unattractive kids, for example? That way, only beautiful people will end up in future college newsletters and web postings because they will be the only ones getting in! That, in turn, will better promote their school and its coolness to future applicants.
And no, the answer is not “If you don’t like it, don’t apply.” Hasn’t this process across the board gotten a bit ridiculous?
I have to admit, this is the first I have heard of Zeeme. Is this only used by certain schools (translation: the super-selectives/Ivies?) D17 is working on her Common App now but hasn’t mentioned this.
I don’t know how many schools are using it. I was hoping to find out by posting! The school D is in the process of applying to that requests Zeeme is not an Ivy or other top elite, but does have a competitive admissions rate.
Creating a Zeeme page may be quick and simple for the social media aficionados, but for a kid like mine that isn’t really into it and has never even felt the need to take a selfie, it was annoyingly time-consuming to do. She’s lucky her parents are not complete tech idiots; we at least have some digital photo files she could page through to find some pics of her doing her EC’s and then upload a few. Other kids, especially the less advantaged, may not be so fortunate.
Regardless, one issue we considered is the privacy of others who might appear in these photos and the ethics of using other people and organizations to promote oneself. Some folks in the photos we’d know and could ask permission of, but others we wouldn’t, eg. random teen runners in a unpublished race pic taken by yours truly. Also, D works with young children at our church, but I don’t think it would be proper to post a photo of D with them, even if we knew who all their parents were to ask permission. Chances are, at least one mom would say “no” to that anyway. If the photo was already published online, such as by a newspaper, we considered it fair game. Except then it’s not ours and again, we technically should ask permission, right? The result was a page with mostly rather simple photos of just D that I don’t think enhances her application much. I’d worry about not doing it at all, though.
Given that this was to be her ED school, since we determined it to be the best fit otherwise among many colleges we considered, I don’t think ditching it over just this makes sense.
Some of D’s school allows it. None make it mandatory. She wouldn’t apply to any school that requires it. And she’s not submitting anything supplemental to the basic app and required and a few optional essays. This college admissions process is getting ridiculous.
I’ve seen it as optional at several schools. I don’t care for it at all, far too subjective on every level and I agree, I’d rather see an actual talent supplement uploaded than a packaged self created ad. And, who’s to say some might get their special snowflake professional help to make one.
I fear the judgement that comes with social media. Yes, some will eat it up and other kids would as soon crawl into a cave and hide. You could call it a weed out the introvert optional supplement. They may bill it as a great option for “test optional” applications but…ugh.
We’ve no intention of playing this particular game and I agree, if that keeps my kid out of a school it’s not a school we want. And this is a kid who could probably do a decent version of one but it feels so all kinds of wrong to me.
“And this is a kid who could probably do a decent version of one but it feels so all kind of wrong to me.”
^^^^ My kid would be all over this if she knew it existed but not my cup of tea at all. I just checked the “partner schools” and two of her schools are on it.
TheGFG, does your daughter’s ED school actually request it?
Yes, they request it and say “if you don’t already have a Zeeme page, here’s the link to download the program for free.” They don’t say “if you want to.” It’s part of their supplement and to my knowledge nothing in the supplement is marked as being optional except for the college-specific essay and even that’s not optional if you want to be considered for merit aid. I would assume you should also do the Zeeme if you want a shot at merit aid.
D has been putting her ZeeMee link in the optional information areas of apps that don’t specifically ask for it. It’s a great way for her to show off her 2 heads and 3 noses.
Those who are knocking it don’t have kids applying this year is my guess. I think it can only help. It can’t hurt. And, it’s not a deal-breaker if you don’t do it.
My dd is creating a zeemee page. It will look like it was put together by a high school student, bc it has been. But for her it makes sense to create a page. She has won national and international awards, but to see her in action (and this is her desired major) really exemplifies just how skilled she is. She is also using to to create a visual portfolio of some of her other work. (She is also homeschooled, so her showcasing her strengths adds validity to her transcript.)
For her siblings, no, I cannot see this as something they would have done or will do. It does not suit their goals. I do think for some kids it can highlight skills that are sometimes disregarded or overlooked. (For example, my dd’s passion is Russian. People on CC discount language skills almost every single day. But for a kid studying via Skype for only 3 yrs, judges have thought she was a heritage speaker. That is an accomplishment.)
My child is applying to the IVYS (all 12 of them) this fall. I’ve already hired a team to help them put together their Zeeme portfolio.
I’m worried because my budget is only $20,000. Do you think their application will suffer if we can only afford a choreographer, a video editor, and just one professional cameraman (who will have to double as the photographer)? My son has had a GoPro surgically attached to his head since middle school, which we hope will add the “authentic” touch.
I originally thought that this would be enough. But we visited a friend this summer in SoCal, and she was shocked that we did not hire a Zeeme counselor. She said that everyone in her neighborhood with high school kids had one.
Sincerely,
Ghost of College Confidential poster from 10 years in the future.
I can’t imagine already overloaded adcoms breaking into the maybe 20 minutes allocated to the app/supp to head over to another social media type link. Have you looked at some of the examples google brings up?
@al2simon It isn’t any different now. Read discussions about “how much do you pay for your college coach?” The difference is that it will just cost those types of parents more. The kids doing it by themselves now will be the same type of kids doing it by themselves then.
But for a kid studying via Skype for only 3 yrs, judges have thought she was a heritage speaker. That is an accomplishment.)