@Indigo & @cricket3, my apologies for not providing a warning about the YouTube ads.
Usually, I have found that I can select the option to ‘Skip ads’ after six seconds of the first ad (for which I still should have provided an alert) but I wonder if the length of audience capture might be region specific.

It is so very in keeping with Indigo’s thoughtfulness & generosity to suggest ways to improve the overall college submission process for students. I’m glad of cricket3’s assurance that US colleges have already addressed this issue since I understand that it is very competitive to get into your top Colleges and selection panel members are likely to thoroughly review every application.

Here in Oz, the system isn’t as evolved (except perhaps for medicine which is the most sought after course for study). For other courses including DS’s first preference, applicants simply fill out a form (and for this particular Uni, they also have to attach a CV). I doubt they’ll actually bother to watch DS’s video. He has to have ECs (minimum of 60 hours per year for each) and therefore must have proof should the administrators decide to check on the validity of his claims, but we are reasonably confident that he will be accepted on the strength of his HSC academic and maths Olympiad results.