Innovations in the University Admissions Process – Kira Talent

Innovations in the University Admissions Process – Kira Talent

Imagine if applying to university was actually fun and admissions were based on more than your A-Level, final AP exam grades and written essays. What if there was an interactive platform that allowed you to share your unique student story with universities?  How helpful would it be?     
                

Figure 1: Where is your identity? (Social Tahelka, 2015)

From University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management to Yale University, both undergraduate and graduate schools across the world are increasingly integrating the Kira Talent platform into their admissions process as a means to offer students a chance to present more than just their grades, transcripts and written essays. 

So what is Kira Talent?           

Figure 2: Kira – Let talent speak for itself (Thomas, 2014)

Kira Talent is a holistic assessment platform for admissions teams designed to uncover their best and brightest applicants. Through a recorded video response and timed written response portal this new platform is expected to make the admissions process more, ‘fair, effective, and engaging for both admissions teams and their applicants’ (Kira Talent, 2016). The benefits of this new innovation in the admissions process are yet to be assessed, however it has been implemented to enable universities to get to know the student behind each application and their essays on a more personal level. 

How does Kira Talent effect current and future students applying to university? 

While Kira Talent is a supplemental application component for most students applying to university and an addition to their essays and application forms, it allows applicants to be themselves and respond to questions with their personal and honest views as compared to relying on formatted textbooks or online advice for answers. Universities want to gain a deeper understanding of the applicants personality and potential by eradicating the fear of giving a right or wrong answer during the assessment, thus the student is encouraged to ‘relax and be yourself’ (Rotman Commerce, 2016) during the Kira Talent recorded video and written assessment. This addition to the admissions process has not been adopted by all universities but nearly 130 universities have integrated it into their admissions processes, hence adding a layer of personalization to the extensive admissions process.                                   

Figure 3: Be Yourself (Lovethispic, n.d.)

The extent to which Kira Talent will enable students to reveal their full personality to universities and whether this is possible in a limited time frame is still unknown. However Kira Talent is certainly a game changer in the admissions process leaving students with the hope that universities will finally assess every applicant’s potential through a more holistic perspective rather than just evaluating traditional application criterion such as grades and test scores.
  


Daniya Sardar
(BSc. U of Warwick, MSc Imperial College London)
Chief Operating Officer and UK Admissions Head- The Edvisory