Colleges get creative in bid to ease stressful application process
With just three short weeks left before the May 1st college admissions deadline, now is the most nerve-wracking time for many high-school seniors.
Now, some colleges and universities are trying innovative ideas to alleviate the high-stakes, stressful process for students, reports CBS News' Mark Albert.
This year, in a first, Wheaton College in Massachusetts hand-delivered some acceptance letters, like Ed McMahon dropping off the prize of a lifetime.
The unconventional house calls are part of a rewrite of college admissions at campuses across the country, including at Goucher College in Baltimore.
Emunah Serman applied to three colleges, but just one let her submit a video application.
In her hand-shot, self-edited video, Serman told admissions staff of her love of drawing and writing and why she thought she'd fit in at the small, liberal arts college.
"It's amazing what they come up with to do in their two-minute videos," said Chris Wild.
Wild and Nina Kasniunas are on the admissions committee at Goucher, which enrolled the first students who were allowed to apply by video this year.
Students do not need to submit a transcript, SAT or ACT exam scores or essays.
Goucher hopefuls only need to send in a two-minute video and two works from high school, only one of which must be graded.
In the tradition-bound world of college admissions, it's a radical idea. At first, it seemed too good to be true for Kasniunas.
"I was initially pretty skeptical. And I think when we first met, I probably raised the most doubts," said Kasnuiunas, who is now "completely sold" by the process.
But critics argue this is dumbing down the traditional application process.
"My response is always that while we've taken away some of those more traditional means, we haven't gotten rid of the element that those are trying to uncover," Wild said.