Whoa!Whoa!Whoa!
January 19, 2010 4:30 PM Subscribe
That's Why I chose Appalachian State Yale! Only 5 years after the original, an Ivy League school discovers the "brilliant" internet meme and decides to go for it no holds barred!
Yes, there indeed are far, far too many singing groups at that place.
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Doktor Zed at 4:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Adding comments has been disabled for this video.
posted by Damn That Television at 4:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by Damn That Television at 4:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Download HOTHOT.wmv (5.7 MB)
Man, if only there were a convenient way to share videos on the internet.
posted by anazgnos at 4:54 PM on January 19, 2010 [9 favorites]
Man, if only there were a convenient way to share videos on the internet.
posted by anazgnos at 4:54 PM on January 19, 2010 [9 favorites]
Pfft...that's nothing. Harvard has already begun production on their promotional music video filming it IN REVERSE!
posted by ericb at 4:59 PM on January 19, 2010 [5 favorites]
posted by ericb at 4:59 PM on January 19, 2010 [5 favorites]
I was too embarrassed for the "singers" to even look at the screen.
posted by Neekee at 5:00 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by Neekee at 5:00 PM on January 19, 2010
tl;dw
If you want me to care, don't make me watch something that is only five minutes shorter than a half-hour of TV.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2010
If you want me to care, don't make me watch something that is only five minutes shorter than a half-hour of TV.
posted by The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2010
They think being all cute will remove the taint of being associated with certain alumni. It will not.
posted by contessa at 5:08 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by contessa at 5:08 PM on January 19, 2010
Yale sucks, never forget it. ;)
You know who went to Yale? Yes, GW. (of course it is quite irritating that Donald Rumsfeld gets to put Princeton on his resume, and there are other examples from all the ivies, but Yale=GW, nevah foget)
posted by caddis at 5:14 PM on January 19, 2010
You know who went to Yale? Yes, GW. (of course it is quite irritating that Donald Rumsfeld gets to put Princeton on his resume, and there are other examples from all the ivies, but Yale=GW, nevah foget)
posted by caddis at 5:14 PM on January 19, 2010
You sir have the boorish manners of a Yalie!
Funny that, at Yale they taught us not to piss on our hands.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:15 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Funny that, at Yale they taught us not to piss on our hands.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 5:15 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Wasn't Sideshow Bob a Yalie?
Don't forget Mr. Burns; he faithfully attends every Harvard-Yale game:
Honestly, Smithers, I don't know why Harvard even bothers to show up. They barely even won.
posted by Partario at 5:19 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Don't forget Mr. Burns; he faithfully attends every Harvard-Yale game:
Honestly, Smithers, I don't know why Harvard even bothers to show up. They barely even won.
posted by Partario at 5:19 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I'm admittedly way out of the loop on the Ivies, but why does a school like Yale even need a recruitment video?
posted by treepour at 5:26 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by treepour at 5:26 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
Is it just me or do kids today seem insufficiently cynical.
posted by delmoi at 5:45 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
posted by delmoi at 5:45 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Now all we need is a Skull and Bones recruitment video with video effects from these guys.
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:51 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by mccarty.tim at 5:51 PM on January 19, 2010
Yale? That nice little community college I've heard so much about?
posted by bardic at 5:59 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by bardic at 5:59 PM on January 19, 2010
I chose App State (though I later changed my mind). The heat was not really a factor in the decision though...
posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:06 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by solipsophistocracy at 6:06 PM on January 19, 2010
I watched the first couple of minutes and was bored. Stopped it. Does yale really need a recruiting video? I thought yale picked their students, not the other way around.
Also App state is pretty cool, i bet this, like everything else, would sound better autotuned.
posted by djduckie at 6:22 PM on January 19, 2010
Also App state is pretty cool, i bet this, like everything else, would sound better autotuned.
posted by djduckie at 6:22 PM on January 19, 2010
I, too, watched only a few minutes of the Yale video until I got too bored/annoyed to continue. I also watched the Appalachian State video for the first time, and I don't understand for the life of me what the two have to do with each other. The Yale video doesn't seem similar enough to the other one to be a self-conscious parody, but it also isn't good on its own right. So what gives? Is this something I'd have to have gone to Yale to understand?
posted by albrecht at 6:43 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by albrecht at 6:43 PM on January 19, 2010
I'm admittedly way out of the loop on the Ivies, but why does a school like Yale even need a recruitment video?
You probably think that they can recruit as many smart candidates as they want, even without advertising. And you're probably right. But with a wider pool of applicants they can select candidates that fit other, more specialised criteria. For instance they can recruit more high-performing minority candidates (notice the racially-diverse audience in the video), and/or prefer candidates who will be virtuous and generous alumni. And their existing students and alumni are part of the audience for this video too. They will, I presume, be impressed by the display of affection for Yale and can be expected to respond positively.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
You probably think that they can recruit as many smart candidates as they want, even without advertising. And you're probably right. But with a wider pool of applicants they can select candidates that fit other, more specialised criteria. For instance they can recruit more high-performing minority candidates (notice the racially-diverse audience in the video), and/or prefer candidates who will be virtuous and generous alumni. And their existing students and alumni are part of the audience for this video too. They will, I presume, be impressed by the display of affection for Yale and can be expected to respond positively.
posted by Joe in Australia at 6:46 PM on January 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
They think being all cute will remove the taint of being associated with certain alumni. It will not.
My taint is in no way associated with W, thank you very much.
posted by ORthey at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
My taint is in no way associated with W, thank you very much.
posted by ORthey at 7:03 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
I had to stop it when he broke into song. I couldn't do it.
I just couldn't. It hurt. I started shouting at my screen: "NO. YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT. IS THIS AN OFFICIAL YALE VIDEO? THIS CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE FOR SERIOUS."
posted by dunkadunc at 7:15 PM on January 19, 2010
I just couldn't. It hurt. I started shouting at my screen: "NO. YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT. IS THIS AN OFFICIAL YALE VIDEO? THIS CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE FOR SERIOUS."
posted by dunkadunc at 7:15 PM on January 19, 2010
Is it alright to be embarrassed by Ivies if you go to an Ivy of the south?
posted by oddman at 7:28 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by oddman at 7:28 PM on January 19, 2010
Maybe there should be some covers of songs by the Plasmatics...?
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 7:44 PM on January 19, 2010
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 7:44 PM on January 19, 2010
The writers said they were inspired by High School Musical. Here's a tip, guys: although it has "high school" in the title, that franchise is for 9-year-olds. So is your video.
posted by palliser at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by palliser at 7:48 PM on January 19, 2010 [1 favorite]
The Ivy League is a sporting league.
They let in these people. Also, Dartmouth.
That is all.
posted by 1adam12 at 9:55 PM on January 19, 2010
They let in these people. Also, Dartmouth.
That is all.
posted by 1adam12 at 9:55 PM on January 19, 2010
Wow, Yale is one multicultural, diverse place!
It's lovely to see all those different ethnicities united in their inability to dance.
posted by madajb at 10:07 PM on January 19, 2010
It's lovely to see all those different ethnicities united in their inability to dance.
posted by madajb at 10:07 PM on January 19, 2010
That video officially raised my worry level about the current recession.
Stay-tuned for "Why I Chose Brown?" an experimental multimedia presentation involving a glitchy Xerox machine, the last living scion of an old European royal dynasty and two guys from Connecticut who went to high school with Coco Moore, performed on a cocaine dusted stage to the sounds of a Jean Baudrillard lecture mashed-up with Dirty Projectors and remixed by a guy at RISD who thinks he's Diplo.
There's an Ivy in the south?
Duke makes such claims based (we think) on the fact that they copied Yale's architecture.
/Carolina fan
posted by thivaia at 10:10 PM on January 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
Stay-tuned for "Why I Chose Brown?" an experimental multimedia presentation involving a glitchy Xerox machine, the last living scion of an old European royal dynasty and two guys from Connecticut who went to high school with Coco Moore, performed on a cocaine dusted stage to the sounds of a Jean Baudrillard lecture mashed-up with Dirty Projectors and remixed by a guy at RISD who thinks he's Diplo.
There's an Ivy in the south?
Duke makes such claims based (we think) on the fact that they copied Yale's architecture.
/Carolina fan
posted by thivaia at 10:10 PM on January 19, 2010 [2 favorites]
I also watched the Appalachian State video for the first time, and I don't understand for the life of me what the two have to do with each other.
Yeah. The App State video is so hilariously bad I wanted to watch it again with my friends. The Yale video is so cringeworthy bad I had to shut it off about 45 seconds into the song.
posted by straight at 10:18 PM on January 19, 2010
Yeah. The App State video is so hilariously bad I wanted to watch it again with my friends. The Yale video is so cringeworthy bad I had to shut it off about 45 seconds into the song.
posted by straight at 10:18 PM on January 19, 2010
Yalie Strikes Harvard Lad Sharply About The Face And Neck.
For some reason, Yale offers a fantastically easy punchline to a wide variety of jokes and jabs. At work we used to have an ongoing game where we'd make absoultely terrible suggestions prefaced by "when I was at Yale ..."
posted by awenner at 11:01 PM on January 19, 2010
For some reason, Yale offers a fantastically easy punchline to a wide variety of jokes and jabs. At work we used to have an ongoing game where we'd make absoultely terrible suggestions prefaced by "when I was at Yale ..."
posted by awenner at 11:01 PM on January 19, 2010
10:16: I want to be an architect someday, I want to help save a city that's dying make assloads of money
Fixed that for you, sorry if it messes up the chorus.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:07 PM on January 19, 2010
Fixed that for you, sorry if it messes up the chorus.
posted by Panjandrum at 11:07 PM on January 19, 2010
I learned a lot about Yale from this video. I never even considered applying there...because my dad told me I was on my own financially if I chose to attend the same university that so grievously failed our then-president.
GWB has done more harm to Yale's applicant pool than possibly anything else its history. No joke. It'll take them a lot more than a 17-minute musical featuring scads of women and minorities to get past it.
posted by crinklebat at 11:10 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
GWB has done more harm to Yale's applicant pool than possibly anything else its history. No joke. It'll take them a lot more than a 17-minute musical featuring scads of women and minorities to get past it.
posted by crinklebat at 11:10 PM on January 19, 2010 [3 favorites]
Yale and Harvard depend upon taking the best & brightest, as they do not sort their students. Yale's median GPA is 3.6. Over half the grades awarded at Harvard are A's. etc.
Ivy's like MIT and Princeton take slightly more care in sorting students, but take other measure to avoid scaring prospectives. MIT avoids reporting GPA data for example. Princeton's median GPA was 3.36 in 2000 but supposedly they avoid reporting the fail out rate.
posted by jeffburdges at 12:30 AM on January 20, 2010
Ivy's like MIT and Princeton take slightly more care in sorting students, but take other measure to avoid scaring prospectives. MIT avoids reporting GPA data for example. Princeton's median GPA was 3.36 in 2000 but supposedly they avoid reporting the fail out rate.
posted by jeffburdges at 12:30 AM on January 20, 2010
Yale and Harvard depend upon taking the best & brightest, as they do not sort their students. Yale's median GPA is 3.6. Over half the grades awarded at Harvard are A's. etc.
I too believe GPA is an accurate measurement of both best and brightest.
posted by secret about box at 2:35 AM on January 20, 2010
I too believe GPA is an accurate measurement of both best and brightest.
posted by secret about box at 2:35 AM on January 20, 2010
Eh. Maybe I should be worried for myself, because I found the video disturbingly charming. I went to another Ivy as an undergrad, found the academics thoroughly overrated, and ended up spending a whole bunch of my weekends in New Haven, because Yale's libraries are just so awesome. The residential colleges are also very cool ideas. It can be hard to engender a sense of community on campus, and these worked well, from what I saw.
The academic in me compels me to add: it's a pity we have to market world-class universities like summer camps.
(The former teen in me pipes up: college-as-summer camp? Sounds awesome.)
posted by artemisia at 2:55 AM on January 20, 2010
The academic in me compels me to add: it's a pity we have to market world-class universities like summer camps.
(The former teen in me pipes up: college-as-summer camp? Sounds awesome.)
posted by artemisia at 2:55 AM on January 20, 2010
I was reminded of Victor Lewis Smiths 80's style parody songs
posted by viama at 3:36 AM on January 20, 2010
posted by viama at 3:36 AM on January 20, 2010
There's an Ivy in the south?
Oh certainly. We call it kudzu, though.
posted by JHarris at 3:57 AM on January 20, 2010 [8 favorites]
Oh certainly. We call it kudzu, though.
posted by JHarris at 3:57 AM on January 20, 2010 [8 favorites]
I had to stop it when he broke into song. I couldn't do it.
I just couldn't. It hurt. I started shouting at my screen: "NO. YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT. IS THIS AN OFFICIAL YALE VIDEO? THIS CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE FOR SERIOUS."
26 comments before anyone expresses their incredulity that this is actually sincere and not satire. I'm not sure which I'm more surprised about !
Bored. Annoyed. ? Surely such responses infer that the posters can believe such a video exists and are well, broed and annoyed by it. I mean wow. I wasn't bored or annoyed. I sat there with a look of horror on my face, uncomfortable but unable to turn it of, waiting for David Brent (UK the office) or some other comedian of discomfort to pop and explain that of course its a joke, no serious place of learning would actually let High School Musical frame its recruitment policy !
posted by Boslowski at 5:10 AM on January 20, 2010
I just couldn't. It hurt. I started shouting at my screen: "NO. YOU DID NOT JUST DO THAT. IS THIS AN OFFICIAL YALE VIDEO? THIS CAN NOT POSSIBLY BE FOR SERIOUS."
26 comments before anyone expresses their incredulity that this is actually sincere and not satire. I'm not sure which I'm more surprised about !
Bored. Annoyed. ? Surely such responses infer that the posters can believe such a video exists and are well, broed and annoyed by it. I mean wow. I wasn't bored or annoyed. I sat there with a look of horror on my face, uncomfortable but unable to turn it of, waiting for David Brent (UK the office) or some other comedian of discomfort to pop and explain that of course its a joke, no serious place of learning would actually let High School Musical frame its recruitment policy !
posted by Boslowski at 5:10 AM on January 20, 2010
Mikey-San: I do not know your GPA, but I'm getting a sense of your reading comprehension.
posted by Wolfdog at 5:22 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 5:22 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
To be honest, the first half that I watched was mostly charming. It does do a somewhat entertaining, if cringe-worthy job of explaining Yale-as-more-than-an-idea. That first guy who sings though...he needs to be less...creepy? jerky? something? when he sings.
(The former teen in me pipes up: college-as-summer camp? Sounds awesome.)
I totally did this the summer before my senior year of high school. I went to Cornell for a couple weeks to take a psychology class and live in the dorms. It was a pretty life-altering experience after growing up a nerd in the south and learning that everywhere wasn't like where I grew up.
posted by This Guy at 6:02 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
(The former teen in me pipes up: college-as-summer camp? Sounds awesome.)
I totally did this the summer before my senior year of high school. I went to Cornell for a couple weeks to take a psychology class and live in the dorms. It was a pretty life-altering experience after growing up a nerd in the south and learning that everywhere wasn't like where I grew up.
posted by This Guy at 6:02 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Princeton's median GPA was 3.36 in 2000 but supposedly they avoid reporting the fail out rate
Schools like that don't really have much of a fail out rate. A few students will implode, usually due to depression or drugs, or both, and stop attending classes etc. However, very few students bomb out because they couldn't handle the work. This stands in sharp contrast to up and coming schools who let in many students not likely to be able to handle their high academic standards. Everyone gets a chance. Many students rise above their previously low achievement and many fail out. In the Ivies about half of the applicants are qualified academically and then they take about an eighth of those. Few if any students are in over their heads. Failing in the Ivies is more about a lack of trying than about a lack of ability to succeed (this is true for a large percentage of those who fail out of the up and coming schools as well, their previous lack of achievement coming not from a lack of intellectual prowess but more from a lack of concentration and effort).
posted by caddis at 6:43 AM on January 20, 2010
Schools like that don't really have much of a fail out rate. A few students will implode, usually due to depression or drugs, or both, and stop attending classes etc. However, very few students bomb out because they couldn't handle the work. This stands in sharp contrast to up and coming schools who let in many students not likely to be able to handle their high academic standards. Everyone gets a chance. Many students rise above their previously low achievement and many fail out. In the Ivies about half of the applicants are qualified academically and then they take about an eighth of those. Few if any students are in over their heads. Failing in the Ivies is more about a lack of trying than about a lack of ability to succeed (this is true for a large percentage of those who fail out of the up and coming schools as well, their previous lack of achievement coming not from a lack of intellectual prowess but more from a lack of concentration and effort).
posted by caddis at 6:43 AM on January 20, 2010
God this was unbearable. The problem (well, one problem) was that while the video was, on some level, self-aware about its campiness, the makers just totally fail at humor and timing. I mean, they might have been able to describe the concept of the video and convince other people that it would be funny and enjoyable, but they were totally unable to execute. I'm sorry, but at the end of the production, no matter how much time and effort had been put into this, somebody with authority should have decided to blast all copies into space before release, because this video could singlehandedly destroy Yale's reputation for excellence cultivated over the last three centuries. The only risk from this strategy is that some hyperadvanced alien race could come across the video and decide to attack the planet Earth, because clearly any culture that could produce such an artifact poses a serious threat to galactic peace and stability.
posted by chinston at 7:56 AM on January 20, 2010
posted by chinston at 7:56 AM on January 20, 2010
This is our fault. This is what we get for giving crap like Glee and American Idol credibility.
I couldn't get past 3:20, where the goofy little guy does his little shimmy to "every sort of interest."
Yale is an excellent university. I agree both Bush presidents, particularly the second, have tarnished its image. This recruitment video (if it's for real, which it seems to be) is a bad idea.
And disabling comments is the last refuge of the weak sauce. If you don't want comments, don't post it to youtube.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:16 AM on January 20, 2010
I couldn't get past 3:20, where the goofy little guy does his little shimmy to "every sort of interest."
Yale is an excellent university. I agree both Bush presidents, particularly the second, have tarnished its image. This recruitment video (if it's for real, which it seems to be) is a bad idea.
And disabling comments is the last refuge of the weak sauce. If you don't want comments, don't post it to youtube.
posted by mrgrimm at 8:16 AM on January 20, 2010
However, very few students bomb out because they couldn't handle the work.
I don't think that's true. I think a lot of intelligent students cruise through less rigorous high schools and standardized testing then hit a wall when faced with 5,000 pages of reading in one quarter or whatever, as well as encountering peers with similar intelligence (and possibly more ambition/motivation/talent). It can be a wake up. (Do I speak from experience? Naah ...)
From what I saw, most students dropped out because they didn't really want to be there in the first place, i.e. the go-go schedule of 18-22 years of straight schooling caught up to them. Drugs or depression didn't stop anyone I knew from graduating. (Graduating on time, definitely.)
posted by mrgrimm at 8:23 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
I don't think that's true. I think a lot of intelligent students cruise through less rigorous high schools and standardized testing then hit a wall when faced with 5,000 pages of reading in one quarter or whatever, as well as encountering peers with similar intelligence (and possibly more ambition/motivation/talent). It can be a wake up. (Do I speak from experience? Naah ...)
From what I saw, most students dropped out because they didn't really want to be there in the first place, i.e. the go-go schedule of 18-22 years of straight schooling caught up to them. Drugs or depression didn't stop anyone I knew from graduating. (Graduating on time, definitely.)
posted by mrgrimm at 8:23 AM on January 20, 2010 [1 favorite]
Miss Teen South Carolina (the one who couldn't string together a coherent thought) attends Appalachian State. George W. Bush went to Yale. All colleges admit some losers and not everyone with a MENSA IQ does things to improve the world.
posted by anniecat at 8:59 AM on January 20, 2010
posted by anniecat at 8:59 AM on January 20, 2010
Disclaimer: After spending $$$$ attending brand name schools, I've realized that the really smart people are the ones who spend the least for college and make the most money.
posted by anniecat at 9:01 AM on January 20, 2010
posted by anniecat at 9:01 AM on January 20, 2010
An education is not merely about improving your earning power.
posted by caddis at 9:15 AM on January 20, 2010
posted by caddis at 9:15 AM on January 20, 2010
I've realized that the really smart people are the ones who spend the least for college and make the most money.
Or, drop out of college: 1 | 2 | 3, etc.
posted by ericb at 3:41 PM on January 20, 2010
Or, drop out of college: 1 | 2 | 3, etc.
posted by ericb at 3:41 PM on January 20, 2010
Mikey-San: I do not know your GPA, but I'm getting a sense of your reading comprehension.
You definitely got a sense of how much I need to stop posting late at night when I'm incapable of reading.
:(
posted by secret about box at 6:25 PM on January 20, 2010
You definitely got a sense of how much I need to stop posting late at night when I'm incapable of reading.
:(
posted by secret about box at 6:25 PM on January 20, 2010
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posted by The Whelk at 4:45 PM on January 19, 2010 [8 favorites]