The College Search Begins with a Great Admissions Video

Way back when I applied to college, I applied to four of them. Who does that any more?

Today, students and their parents look at scores of colleges and apply to many. How can they keep all of the colleges straight? They are awash in pages of information; inundated by spreadsheets of data. And in the end, the final decision is made not from the information and data, but from the gut. It comes down to the “feel” of a place – the “fit.”. How many times have I heard “I knew the minute I walked onto the campus…” Yet, every year families gather volumes of facts and figures, sorting through it all, trying to make sense of it, drowning in it.

In the middle of a college search, people think they can equate the quantity of information they gather with the quality of information. Not so. On most websites, one place will look the same as the next: small-classes, dinner at your professor’s house, beautiful campus, smiling students, etc. It’s getting beyond generic images, pat phrases and dry statistics that will help parents find the right place for their child. It’s about finding a college that will change a life.

Colleges That Change Lives
At Tribe Pictures we have made many brand videos for colleges with truly nurturing environments. A few of these colleges are found in Loren Pope’s book “Colleges That Change Lives”, first published 20 years ago and updated ever since. Our clients include Agnes Scott, Cornell College, Reed, and the College of Wooster. Others with whom we’ve worked that have a similar feel include Kenyon, Franklin Pierce, Lafayette and Hamilton. College Marketing and Communication teams count on great admissions videos to highlight how they’re different, and ways they take well-rounded individuals and help them grow. These places pay attention. They care.

You can get a pretty good introduction to a school by viewing the videos they have produced. In Tribe Pictures’ inspiring college films, we take the same time and care telling their stories as they do nurturing their students.

What can help make your school stand out?
As students and parents cut through the clutter and focus on a few colleges that closely fit their priorities, they begin to painstakingly plan visits to the schools they’re interested in. Hopefully they are not put off when they get there if they have a less-than-scintillating interview or a lack-luster campus tour guide. After all, everybody has an off day, and it shouldn’t necessarily reflect on the college.

Not to tout our own expertise, but films don’t have an off day. Great college videos can take the pressure off your campus leaders to communicate perfectly what you want to convey to your prospective students. Films are one of the few tools available to college admission and marketing and communication teams that will be absorbed by audiences in their entirety. When done well, these videos are the best guarantee that your schools intended message is what the audience takes away.

Big Names vs. Big Results
There’s an interesting benefit to producing brand films for various colleges: to produce a great film we get to know each college and their nuances, including what makes them a perfect “fit” for the students they enroll. A student doesn’t need to get into a prestigious school to be successful in life. Malcolm Gladwell’s bestselling book, David and Goliath speaks to the notion that students should not necessarily place a premium on prestigious universities, as being a “big fish in a small pond” sometimes leads to greater confidence and success throughout life.

Many of the schools we have worked with nurture each individual student, and we are partial to that approach in higher education. We are wary of rankings and statistics and prefer to look into the heart and soul of a place.

Many of the schools we have worked with have that common thread of nurturing each individual student, and we are partial to that approach in higher education. We are wary of rankings and statistics and prefer to look into the heart and soul of a place.

You can get to really know a few colleges by watching some of our films here.

And, dare I say, view videos made by others, too – as long as they are great videos.

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LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT

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