Bowdoin now offers applicants to the College the option of recording a short video response as a supplement to their applications. The video response option, last year offered only to international applicants, is now available to all high school students.

“We are really excited to try it and recognize that it’s an experiment for us on the admissions side,” said Dean of Admissions Whitney Soule.  “We hope that it serves as a way for students to feel that they have something to give to us that doesn’t require preparation and polish on their side … and allows them to have fun answering a question that doesn’t take a lot of time.”

Applicants who choose to film a video response will get a prompt from a prompt bank, after which they will have one minute to think about their answer. Video responses are limited to two minutes each. Applicants who don’t like their first take can delete that one and try again. If they don’t like this second take, they can decide not to submit at all.

Currently, the Office of Admissions is unsure how many students will submit videos, and they do not have any specific expectations or targets. The video response is simply meant to be an optional supplement that will allow students to show a less formal side of themselves.