What is The ZeeMee Online Portfolio?

ZeeMee is a social platform designed to give students another way to communicate with college admissions officers instead of, or in addition to, a traditional interview. It is a free service that allows you to use images and video to document your personal story, by highlighting your interests, strengths and personality to college admissions counselors. A little like Instagram and Snapchat, ZeeMee is a fun way for students to present themselves more professionally.

You can use ZeeMee to highlight your passions and interests, including sports activities.

A ZeeMee profile consists of a 30 to 90 second “Meet Me” video and a “My Story” section, which is an elevator pitch with images. There is also an information bar identifying demographics such as hometown, high school, graduating class, and an activities section to highlight three to five interest areas such as social justice, filmmaking or athletics. Each area has an accompanying written description and photos or video. Students can download poetry or academic work, share family stories, discuss work experiences, or even setbacks and how they grew from them.

Ethan Lin of ZeeMee described a student who wanted to demonstrate her passion for soccer. She started with a lot of pictures of herself scoring goals. However, she realized that those images didn’t really tell her soccer story. Instead, this student reworked her portfolio to showcase her deep commitment to the sport including photos of her closet overflowing with cleats because she hates throwing away used pairs, her alarm clock set to 5 a.m., the time she gets up for an early workout, her beloved soccer team jersey, and, yes, one picture of her scoring a goal.

Here are some sample ZeeMee profiles:

https://www.zeemee.com/andrewchessee

https://www.zeemee.com/sophiamunoz

https://www.zeemee.com/derekcrosby

https://www.zeemee.com/emmaemuhaynes

There are currently 200 ZeeMee college partners that give students the option to submit a ZeeMee.

Your college consultant can help you determine if creating a ZeeMee profile is the right fit for a particular school.

“A strong ZeeMee profile helps an applicant stand out if he or she falls in the middle of the pack or is on the cusp of being admitted,” said Brittany Slaughter, an admissions counselor at Elon University. Ms. Slaughter also pointed out that some students have included a link to their ZeeMee profiles in an email signature. This allows Ms. Slaughter to click on the profile when she receives an email inquiry or thank you note from a student, though she acknowledges that Elon will not review every ZeeMee profile it receives from the applicant pool. Other schools that offer the option for applicant ZeeMee profiles include Tulane, Texas Christian University, Carnegie Mellon, and Virginia Tech.

If you are creating a ZeeMee, Ms. Slaughter advises that students keep it real. If a student is not a videographer, then the video should not look professionally produced. However, students should be sure to check for any typos or errors (incorrect spelling, incomplete activities descriptions, an out-of-focus profile picture, etc.).

Students can set their Zeemee as public or private and have full control over whom to share it with. A Zeemee is not necessary for all applicants, but it may make sense for some depending on where they are applying. Be aware that some colleges will not be interested in ZeeMee, so work with your college consultant to determine whether it makes sense for you or not. If you are interested, create an account and start playing with the features. It may be one more way for colleges to get to know you.