How to Make Standout Application Videos
Creating compelling video content that you star in yourself is an essential skill in our social media–dominated world. From Zoom meetings to TikTok, the first time people meet you these days will likely be on video. Many colleges and business schools have now added video elements to their applications. The good news is that most schools don’t expect you to submit a video that has been highly produced, so your focus just needs to be on presenting yourself authentically and giving the adcom a feel for who you are.
Here are the three main types of videos you might encounter during the application process:
- Recorded video interviews on school software (e.g., KIRA): For these videos, you speak live into the camera in response to a question or prompt provided by the school. Your video submission is recorded and sent to the adcom, who will watch it later.
- Recorded video submissions: For these videos, which are not live, you record your submission using your own software and then upload it to the application site when you feel it is ready.
- Live video interviews: You and a school representative (e.g., a graduate, student, or adcom member) meet via Zoom or another video conferencing platform and have a live conversation that lasts 30-60 minutes.
For all of these formats, there are two main things the adcoms want to learn about you:
- Can you communicate an idea concisely?
- Do you have mastery of conversational English?
Tips for Your Application Videos
Regardless of the type of video you need to submit to your target school, the following tips will help you prepare to succeed.
- Brainstorm in advance to identify approximately eight stories from your life that could apply to probable questions:
- An accomplishment you’re proud of
- A time when you worked on a team
- A new skill you taught yourself
- A time that you failed and what you learned about yourself
- A value that you acted on
- An example of your leadership style in action
- An activity or subject area you’re obsessed with
- How you might introduce yourself at a party
- Make sure that the stories you prepare are about you. You don’t want to waste valuable video time flattering the school or talking about someone else. Keep the focus on you, your values, and stories in which you are the star.
- Map out your stories so they follow a logical sequence. People like to hear about processes. Here’s an effective structure:
- A clear introduction that restates the school’s question and sets the stage for you to offer a real-life example
- What you learned about yourself through this activity or value
- Your impact on others through this activity or value
- Outline your stories as “storyboards.” An easy way to do this is by creating a table. In one column of the table, write the text of your story. In the adjacent columns, draw pictures that illustrate what you want to say. This is a trick that broadcast journalists use when preparing for a live segment. Pictures tend to stick in our minds better than text. Rather than memorizing what you want to say verbatim, use the pictures you created to jog your memory as you practice. This can help you appear more natural on camera.
- Start practicing your stories two weeks before the deadline or video interview date. The more you practice, the more comfortable and natural you’ll appear on camera. For the first week, I recommend running through all of your stories twice a day. You can read from a script at this point, but do not start over if you make a mistake. Just keep going. Also, time yourself. If you take longer than a minute to get through any of your stories, trim your story back. For the second week, do a daily run-through of each story without the script, and stop and restart whenever you make a mistake.
- Pay attention to what your background will be when recording your video, and make sure there are no distracting or inappropriate items behind you. Record in a well-lit room, with a light either facing you or bouncing off a wall in front of you. Close windows to keep out noise. Ask the other people in your household to remain quiet while you’re recording. Make sure your laptop is on a steady surface, and use a tripod when recording with a smartphone, rather than holding it in your hand.
- Put a little sticker or piece of tape near the camera on your laptop or smartphone to remind you to look there, rather than at yourself. Leave a little space above your head on the screen, but not too much, so you appear to be speaking at eye level to the viewer.
- Dress for success. In most cases, that will mean business casual. Avoid low-cut shirts, and style your hair.
- Make sure to answer the question that the adcom has asked you to answer. Do not prioritize telling a story that you want to tell over providing the information the adcom has requested. From your stories you’ve prepared in advance, select the one that best fits the question.
- Do not read your responses/stories. The schools want to see authenticity and how you are able to express yourself naturally. That said, in the case of live recordings, it’s a good idea to keep a pen and paper close at hand. Once you’ve received the question, think about which story you’ve practiced best fits the question. Quickly jot down three points, maximum. Then, turn the paper over and look straight at the camera so you won’t be tempted to read from the paper when the recording starts.
- Pay attention to the time, and respect any limits the school has set. You need to be concise and show the school that you can deliver the necessary information in a clear and effective way.
- Consider listening to podcasts such as This I Believe, This American Life, and The Moth to hear how people tell their stories in a condensed, authentic, and entertaining way – and without sounding as though they’re reading from a page.
- Don’t be afraid to incorporate some humor into your responses if this comes naturally to you and reflects who you genuinely are and how you typically communicate. Use appropriate language that you would actually use in normal conversation and sprinkle in a little humor if it fits the situation.
- Always do a test video to ensure that your equipment is working properly and ready to go. For Zoom, Skype, or other online platform interviews, make sure your software is fully updated in advance. For prerecorded videos that you will upload to the school’s site, do a 30-second test shoot, transfer the footage into CapCut or another editing program, and then export the clip into a format the school accepts. If you are able to do all that, you should be technically ready to record your video.
- If you make a mistake when recording a live video or during a live interview, simply smile, laugh, and start again. Mistakes can be charming if you show a quick recovery.
We hope these tips will prepare you to create a standout video for your application, whether it’s a prerecorded submission, a live recording, or a video interview. However, if you have questions or would like further assistance with a video element for your target schools, a knowledgeable Accepted consultant would be happy to help.
Michelle Stockman is a professional journalist, former Columbia Business School admissions insider, and experienced admissions consultant. Want Michelle to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!
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