When colleges try to appeal to prospective students through advertisements, they must walk a fine line between legitimate promotion and schmaltzy marketing that opens the way for genius satire (see last year’s “Harvard By the Numbers” and the hilarious parody video it spawned).
With its campy new admissions musical, “That’s Why I Chose Yale,” Yale University proves you really can have it both ways. The video, a song-and-dance sketch that is clearly aimed at the generation weaned on High School Musical, simultaneously winks at its audience while feeding it images of successful, ebullient Elis romping across the campus like the cast of “Up With People.”
Sure, there’s been plenty of naysaying on Yale’s Cross Campus blog, and you can bet there’s already a parody or three in the works. But even Harvard’s FlyByBlog likes it. Judge for yourself:
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17 Responses to Yale, the (High School) Musical
abolden - January 19, 2010 at 4:29 pm
Very nice.
11164595 - January 19, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Very clever!! Next one should be “How Can I Get Into Yale?”
mrutter - January 19, 2010 at 6:46 pm
It is nicely produced … and topical. But, honestly … who are they appealing to? It may generate interest and buzz, but to what end? A more diverse class? A larger applicant pool? Finding that one student who hasn’t heard of Yale?Or, worse … to send the message: Hey, look, our students are just like you! We are normal! It’s just like American Idol — anyone can get in if they just try hard enough!But … such students aren’t just like everyone else (as so few get in). That is part of what makes Yale, Yale.It is really dangerous to pretend that you are not what you are—an elite institution that houses some of the best and brightest. There’s nothing wrong with that.And in the end: YALE CHOSE THEM. (The yield rate is an astounding 70%).
mmoazen - January 19, 2010 at 7:23 pm
Great video! Even though Yale is selective, there is nothing wrong with creating an awesome admissions video. All of the topics covered are what is covered on all campuses during a college visit. I think this is a great way to reach students. Congratulations on thinking outside the box!
11211250 - January 20, 2010 at 8:37 am
I love it! Forget “High School Musical” this is more like RENT or Bollywood. The alums and students that put this together will be getting calls from Broadway. Yale is leading the way to a new concept in “marketing” academics. Hmmm… Why not do this for research grant proposals as well? What a great way to convince peer reviewers to recommend your research project. I can see it all now – dancing DNA… singing MRIs. Of course the PI may have to be played by a professional – or perhaps the PI could lip sync his/her parts. Imagine what could be done with the methods section, not to mention the societal impact statement. Finally what a tremendous way to give undergrads in the arts real world experiences. Wow! Yale really is on to something!
madrew - January 20, 2010 at 9:33 am
This is awful. It compounds every single Yale stereotype that’s out there.
russelld - January 20, 2010 at 9:53 am
This is long–about 15 minutes
rkrosenberg - January 20, 2010 at 9:58 am
are these Yale students?
vliberatore - January 20, 2010 at 10:14 am
Unbelievably bad. WHO is Yale trying to attract? The music sounds like every bad commercial on AM radio, and the “acting” is more lame and obvious than a junior high school play. I kept waiting for the punch line to prove it was a clever joke and thought it was going to come with all the drama portentiously built around the last questioner in the info session. But no. If Yale wants a student body of incurious halfwits who are susceptible to these dreadful banalities, the absolute knee-jerk sappiest, of our monstrous culture industry, well, that’s really a shame. Now I know we’re doomed.
azfaculty - January 20, 2010 at 11:21 am
I loved it! The song stayed in my head all day, bouncing and (gasp!) positive! And Sam Tsui’s cameo spot is amazing – it made me check out his phenomenal You Tube productions. This video might help the “selective” and “best and brightest” know that they can go to a school for its top-notch academics AND have fun.
falzf - January 20, 2010 at 4:30 pm
“With its campy new admissions musical, ‘That’s Why I Chose Yale,’ Yale University proves you really can have it both ways.” Huh? What? This is “campy”? Sorry, there is no “both ways” here. This is pure dumb glitz. I kept waiting for even a smidgeon of camp, but it never appeared. Comment #9 has it right: Who, exactly, is Yale trying to attract with this thing? It looks to me as if they’re going for the high school cheerleader-wonderbread-student council treasurer-perfect-student robot types. The only question is why Yale would want to do this to themselves.
glamm - January 20, 2010 at 5:01 pm
I’d like the last 15 minutes of my life back!
aquila7272 - January 20, 2010 at 6:02 pm
These kids could be my grandchildren and I loved it! I am sure anyone who wants 15 minutes of his life back, needs to get a life. Very refreshing, clever, superb editing and first rate direction considering the cast of characters.
arrive2__net - January 20, 2010 at 6:50 pm
I thought it was long, but light-hearted and funny, so you wouldn’t totally fall asleep on this one if you were watching a bunch of recruiting videos all at once. I thought it communicated some of its ideas well, others were glossed over in difficult to comprehend speeches or songs. How would this video perform as a competitive tool where you are trying to win over highly sought after prosects? Since the video was apparently designed and made by students who recently were such prospects it might do OK, or maybe the makers, the student and recent alums involved, don’t really represent the Yale student body so it won’t work that well. Maybe the Chronicle will report on how well the video performed in recruiting later. My guess is that it won’t perform that well, since Yale is an expensive decision and the video is not consistent with the context of making a serious decision. It will be interesting to see if the widespread ridicule forecasted by the article will actually develops.
11274135 - January 21, 2010 at 1:26 pm
I know a lot of the super smart kids that Yale wants to attract. They sometimes seem like dull and serious grinds. But they are smart; they are witty; they are clever; they are creative. They will get what is going on here (better than half of the responders above), and they will love every minute of it.
javelina - January 21, 2010 at 5:09 pm
It was way too long for me – I lost interest at about the 7-minute mark. It also was too … sappy? Is that the right word? But I also know I’m not the audience for whom it is intended. The high-achieving 16-year-old daughter of a colleague of mine, however, is exactly the type of student Yale would want to attract. My colleague is going to show it to her, and I will be interested to hear her reaction.
supertatie - February 1, 2010 at 9:36 am
I think it’s great they got Barack Obama to star in the video.