ZeeMee is a new way for
students to showcase themselves for admissions.
A growing number of colleges are including the option of connecting a
ZeeMee.com profile to your application.
Students include information about themselves (their “elevator pitch” or
60 second highlight summary, 3-5 of their activities with pictures, videos, or
documents, a professional photo, and their story. They can also create a 30-90 second “Meet Me”
video.
Last year was the first year
that some admissions departments included ZeeMee as an option. The feedback they gave is that they
appreciated the opportunity to get to know the personality of the applicants
better. This year, over 200 colleges
will be including this option. While
admissions teams are sorting out how to best include reviewing ZeeMee in their
application review process, the initial expectation is that they will take
between one and three minutes to view a profile.
Some tips for students. Keep your profile positive and
professional. Be yourself, especially in
your video. Admissions are adept at
noticing when a student is not being him or herself so don’t try to be someone
you are not. Minor mistakes in your
video are OK. A perfect video would be
suspect, unless your resume includes lots of experience and expertise in video
creation. Including a quick testimonial
in your video is ok. There are sample
videos on ZeeMee; these will give you an idea.
You can start creating your
profile any time after you turn 13. Then
use it as a place to document and memorialize your accomplishments throughout
high school, including accomplishments at school, work, athletics,
competitions, and your life in general.
As always, be careful to not use buzzwords or abbreviations. You may know what the KofC picnic is, but
admissions won’t.
I have mixed feelings about
this. For those capable of pulling
together a decent video, I think it’s a great option. For those who are not, I think it would be
best to skip this. However, it IS an
opportunity for a student with a special ability which is not directly related
to their major area of interest, to showcase that. For example, a student who hopes to play for
the marching band but not major in music.
Or for an athlete who loves their sport but isn’t looking to be
recruited. Or for students who do atypical
things – give talks, do serious research, create amazing art (but who aren’t
submitting a portfolio or audition) – be it visual or performing…
ZeeMee allows students to
keep their profiles private or public.
When it is private, it is not able to be found via internet search. When a profile is flagged as public, it is
searchable and may be viewed by anyone.
There is a way to share the link to your profile directly thus making it
selectively available. For a tutorial on
ZeeMee, please go to bit.ly/zmcer.
