Apart from test scores and transcript the foremost thing that colleges in the United States look for in a candidate is You. They search for your brand, what you bring to the college, and most importantly if you are a good fit for the college. Creating a brand is the challenge, especially if admissions officers can't meet you and put a face to a name. This is where ZeeMee comes in. The free phone app started as a venture to train students on how to create a personal brand through a series of webinars. Soon, it began collaborating with universities as an alternative to a supplemental essay for college applications. Instead of providing a 300 word essay, students could answer specific questions in a 26 second video. This both increases the empathetic and visual connect for the college counsellor between the dematerialized college application and the student.
ZeeMee was rolled out in 2014 to charter schools, specifically with students that lived in remote places and didn't have the funds to take a college road trip. Since then the app has reached viral fame raising millions of dollars and teeming up with over 200 American universities, most of which are historically black and liberal arts colleges (though some Ivy Plus colleges such as Carnegie Mellon were early adopters as well). If you are a non-traditional thinker and believe that you can sell yourself better through video then ZeeMee might just be for you. Over 20,000 students from 150 countries are currently creating a personal brand. Check it out here. A word of caution - be sure to put effort in creating a honest profile on ZeeMee. Your audience is watching you and it's easy to spot a lie!