{"id":2663,"date":"2010-03-19T19:58:22","date_gmt":"2010-03-20T03:58:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/?p=2663"},"modified":"2010-03-21T20:00:29","modified_gmt":"2010-03-22T04:00:29","slug":"part-i-the-dos-and-donts-of-audio-and-video-application-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/part-i-the-dos-and-donts-of-audio-and-video-application-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Part I: The Dos and Don’ts of Audio and Video–Application Style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paper application?\u00a0 That's like, so yesterday.\u00a0 Now you Gen X, Y and Millennial candidates get a chance to wow the admissions committee with your dope multimedia \"skillz.\"<\/p>\n

According to a recent article in Businessweek<\/a>, UCLA Anderson School of Management<\/a> (Anderson Full-Time MBA Profile<\/a>) already gives candidates the option to submit an audio or video clip. And next year (HOORAY!) The University of Chicago's Booth School of Business<\/a> might be ditching the PowerPoint question.\u00a0 They haven't yet disclosed what their \"get-to-know-you\" replacement may be, but--you better start thinking digital.<\/p>\n

Here are some of UCLA's top audio entries that were animated\u00a0 . . . after admittance.<\/a><\/p>\n

For undergrads, Tufts<\/a> has introduced a 1 minute video essay option, and Yale<\/a> accepts links to videos, but warns that if the content is not stellar, it can work against you.<\/p>\n

Check out Ameila Down's interpretive math dance for Tufts, with over 100,000 views<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Over the next few days, Accepted.com will release a five-part blog series about how to successfully create a 1 to 2 minute audio or video clip.<\/p>\n

We'll talk about how to plan your content around your technical know-how, so that no matter your skill set, you'll make the ad comm hit rewind again and again.<\/p>\n

But first, the TOP 10 Do's and Don'ts of Video Applications<\/p>\n

The Dos<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Do make it about YOU. <\/strong>Don't waste time by interviewing your friends and family about why they think you're awesome.\u00a0 They can be included peripherally, but you should choose an activity or story where you are the featured star.<\/p>\n

2. Do tell the story in logical sequences.<\/strong> People like to see processes. Think about how you can show a behind-the-scenes \"how-to\" of something cool that you do or have done.<\/p>\n

3. Do make a story board. <\/strong>Once you've decided on the content, <\/strong>plan the story out shot by shot. It's like making an outline for an essay. This will help you present a logical sequence, and reduce shooting time.<\/p>\n

4. Do start filming at least 2 weeks before the deadline. <\/strong>And test all your technical equipment beforehand, end-to-end!\u00a0 Something will inevitably go wrong, and you'll need the time to troubleshoot.<\/p>\n

5. Do use a tripod if possible. <\/strong>This will help you have a steady, watchable video.\u00a0 After watching hundreds of shaky shots (which the ad comm will have to do) your story will be a pleasant change.<\/p>\n

The Don'ts<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Don't try something new for the first time. <\/strong> Keep it simple. Concentrate on telling a really compelling story, rather than stretching your technical abilities.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Don't use slick production techniques<\/strong> to cover up<\/strong> the fact that you don't have a compelling story.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Don't use music that is distracting.<\/strong> You can use snippets to punch up certain parts of the video, but if it doesn't have a reason to be there, take it out.\u00a0 Again, a driving techno beat may sound like a good way to make your video exciting, but it can be really annoying if you have to watch 100 of these clips a week.<\/p>\n

4. Don't introduce the school campus as a character<\/strong> in the video.\u00a0 The ad comm sees enough of their office everyday and will get sick of people using it as a backdrop.\u00a0 They want a window into YOUR life.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Don't ask someone to interview you <\/strong>on camera like you're on Meet the Press. It looks pretentious and sounds odd. You should put yourself at the scene of the action, and speak directly to the camera like you're talking to a friend.<\/p>\n

Bonus Don'ts:<\/strong> Please retire these cliches.\u00a0 Just drop kick them out of town.<\/p>\n

#1 person waking up in the morning and turning into a superhero<\/p>\n

#2 school mascots as characters<\/p>\n

#3 enthusiastic candidate jumping off campus landmarks<\/p>\n

Stay tuned for Part II in the series: Content is King (or Queen)!<\/em><\/p>\n

By Michelle Stockman<\/a>, who worked in the Columbia Business School admissions office, has a Masters in Journalism from Columbia, and has assisted Accepted.com clients applying to top business schools since 2007. When not advising Accepted's clients, she a multimedia producer with works published by <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>Agence France Presse<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>, Economist.com, WSJ.com, <\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>the<\/em> Times of India, and Hindustan Times<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>. She is happy to help you with your application. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paper application?\u00a0 That’s like, so yesterday.\u00a0 Now you Gen X, Y and Millennial candidates get a chance to wow the admissions committee with your dope multimedia “skillz.” According to a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8],"tags":[466,41,39,124,467,44,468],"class_list":["post-2663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-school-life","category-current-events","category-fun-stuff","tag-audio","tag-chicago","tag-mba-admissions","tag-mba-interview","tag-tufts","tag-ucla-anderson","tag-video","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2663"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2664,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2663\/revisions\/2664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gmatclub.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}