Back to posts

How Your Kid Can Help

College Admissions

The blog post below is a rough transcription of the video above – so please listen to the video if possible – otherwise, here is what was in the video:

Hey everyone it is Neha with College Shortcuts. I hope you guys are doing well, that you are safe, you are happy.

I know yesterday I did quite emotional video about hurricane Harvey. It has been obviously a very intense time for us in Houston.

I wanted to do a quick video here about you know just updates on what's going on. I know that right now what's happening is Houston is getting displaced in so many ways. Wednesday is about to come and it's going to be even worse.

I'm asking you guys, and I want you guys to know just from the last video we did, we are going to be donating a thousand dollars to efforts to help recover things for people in Houston. I want to make sure you know that your money is getting used in the right places here in Houston Texas.

I want to touch base about something else. You may not know this but India just got hit. Over 1,200 people just died in the last day due to flooding. The photos are horrific.

We're seeing right now a huge call for humanity. As a founder, as a business owner I am working as hard as I can.

So many people are like "what can we do, how can we help?" A lot of people are scared to donate. I've noticed just based on social media people like "Oh, the Red Cross, it doesn't use the money effectively" or they say certain things and so they're not really taking action.

I'm going to ask a quick call out here for everyone. I'm going to do it in a way that's a little different. See a lot of times you think “Okay, I'm not sure where my money is going." I want you to know that there are ways that you can help.

Obviously one is try to find ways to donate goods over to Houston. I just checked on my postage and there's nothing getting mailed in and out of Houston so that's one thing.

The second thing is if you're in the Houston Area, the Georgia R. Brown Convention Center is packed. There's over 9,000 people in a center that doesn't technically hold that many people. They barely have enough food. There's children running around that can't find their parents.

I want you guys to know that there's a lot that can be done here. It's about really figuring out what makes the most sense for you.

The third is what I am trying to do here at College Shortcuts. Now we've had a few of our team members’ lose power. We've had few team members wake up and find out there's water flooding through their home and they've had to leave everything. Some of them even had to leave pets in their house and just run because of how fast the water was moving. I want you to know we are doing everything we can to make sure we support not just our team but Houston in general.

Just in the last 24 hours my last video had so many calls from parents that said “You know what Neha we've been on the fence about booking. We've been so busy with back-to-school. We've been so busy with summer, but your last video about hurricane Harvey and what's happening, we want to go ahead and just sign up now."

They know that when they commit that they are going to be donating to Harvey.

I want you guys to know you can call us today at 713-401-2867. Just in 24 hours we're going to be donating a $1,000 to hurricane Harvey. I would like to see that hit upwards of $10,000 by the end of this week. If your kid needs anything when it comes to test prep, SAT, ACT prep. If they need PSAT prep for October because all the 10th and 11th grader you need that prep guys, I know you do. If you're wanting to get mentorship for your kid, I'm taking on extra hours.

So many parents know that we are completely booked up. We are going to take on as many hours as we can to support our Houston team members. We've got College Consultants that are out in the Northeast. They're ready to take on as many ours as possible. Our people in California are ready to edit as many essays as possible.

Call us right now if you want to not only support your own children in your own families but to support all the families back in Houston Texas.

I fled the city last week because I knew what was coming. I tried to convince everyone to join me. So many people were concerned about staying with their house. I currently only have maybe seven sets of clothes and three pairs of shoes and that's it. There's no flight to get back home right now for me. I am trying to help as much as I can from where I am. I'm trying to make sure all 50 of our team members are safe and sound. I'm doing these videos because I know that every single dollar matters. For everyone that is donating to hurricane Harvey and using us as a way to help their child get into their dream college.

Tell your child, look you know what, I know you guys you as a teenager are delaying. You didn't get your essays done. Needing to handle your resume. Needing to get mentored in the process. Needing help in all these different ways. I'm here to tell you that if you decide to make this decision, College Shortcuts is donating a massive portion of their proceeds over to hurricane Harvey.

I think this is one of those videos you should definitely share with your teenager, because so any people are just sending prayers which is awesome guys. Please send the positive energy. Let's not argue over if we should have evacuated or not. I could keep yelling over and over at parts of my family members that are still not evacuating, but that's not solving the problem when there's water up to their doorstep. Does it? No, being negative doesn't solve anything.

Today I am asking you right now if you're watching this video and you know a family with a teenager or you know a family that needs tutoring. We have people that are ready to step up on my team and ready to help every child that calls us that signs up with us this week.

So many people on my team don't have work right now because of the hurricane. So many people barely have food right now in Houston. I have to do something. It has been so heavy on my heart to know that I can't be there. The best way of what I can do right now, because I'm not in Houston, is to call all of you guys and ask.

You know Kevin Hart just did a video and I watched it today and it was like “Hey you know what I'm going to do the $25,000 challenge. I'm going to ask Beyoncé. I'm going to ask all these people to donate." I'm asking you and I'm not even asking you to straight donate. I'm asking you to go ahead get to the help your kid needs that you've been delaying on and make sure it happens. In return, I'm going to make sure that the people that are suffering in Hurricane Harvey are taken care of. Not just that, we're also going to split our efforts. There's stuff going on around the world right now.

Yes, you can sit back in your comfortable home and the beautiful sunlight going on, totally. It's totally fine to do.

I'm here to tell you that you know we're a mission-driven company here at College Shortcuts and Elite Private Tutors. I can't just sit back.

I've got a text from my family group. Listen to this, this is really cute. I have a nephew and nice out of Philadelphia. They are literally going to be donating $15 from their chore money. Yes, they're younger. $15 from their chore money and they wanted to know if anyone in the family would match it. Within five minutes it got matched to over $200 by all of my cousins. I texted back and I said " No, don't worry we're donating a $1,000 at minimum just in the last two days."

My family is really surprised at how much I'm willing to give, but to me you can't watch this news and not feel something. You can't be sitting back and thinking everything's going to be okay. They've never seen anything like this guys. I'm a native Houstonian. We've never seen anything like this. There's intersections that literally I mean it's like I've never seen this kind of rain in my life. I don't even know if my home is okay. I mean if my car is okay. I don't really care. I don't really care about my stuff right now.

That's why I feel I am here right now to make sure that I am doing everything that I can from where I am located. To make sure we're helping my team members. Make sure we're helping the kids around the world. Make sure we're helping everyone dealing with hurricane Harvey.

I'm doing this video as an ask. Yeah I'm asking and if you want to hate me for it, go ahead. I don't really care. For the people that really are feeling for all the families, there are clients that I haven't been able to reach. They've been telling me "Oh my gosh Neha, I got your email, but we can't talk right now. Like we're still trying to figure out how to get out." We have clients in League City and Clear Lake near Galveston. I haven't heard from them at all.

At this point I'm asking all of you. All of you families that may not be in the Houston Area. If you know a family that could use any form of test prep. Any form of college consulting. Any form of tutoring whether its Math, English, science whatever it is, that really wants their help for their kid, I am telling you my team will work an overdrive to make sure our Houston team is taken care of and to make sure that we are donating to hurricane Harvey.

Call us today if you don't reach us the phones have been off the hook. I know off the hook it's crazy. Please call us at 713-401-2867 because I know you have heart. I know you do and as a mission-driven company we are all about social entrepreneurship.

We want to make sure that we're helping every single family in need. I can't keep watching this on the news. It's breaking my heart every single day. I'm asking you if you aren't comfortable donating directly and you're not just sure where to put the funds.

As a native Houstonian and watching a lot of people in kayaks in neighborhoods that you would never think would flood. Never. I will make sure that your money goes to the right place and to the people that truly need it. Please call us today at 713-401-2867.

Any product that is purchased off our website at collegeshortcuts.com. Major portions of that will also go towards hurricane Harvey. Everyone step in, tell your kids to step in.

Make sure that we are uplifting humanity every single day. Let me tell you something the world keeps sending us reminders, and if we don't wake up, it is going to be really painful. I hope all of you guys that are watching the video are safe and sound.

Please remember to think about what you really need in this life to really make sure all of humanity is taken care of. I love each and every one of you. I had to reach out and do this video because our audience is only 10% Houston, Texas.

There's 90% percent of you and I know just based on our marketing team. 90% of you that are watching this video are not in Houston. I'm begging you. I'm asking you. Stop procrastinating and get your stuff in order because I am telling you we will work tirelessly.

I've opened up all my hours. I'm going to be taking on as many clients as I can because I know that all the stuff that I do, I'm giving it right back. I love you guys. Everyone please stay safe, hug your spouse's. Hug your kids. Hug everything that you love because you just never know what's going to happen.

Make sure to comment below, tag a friend, tag a family, and tag a teen. This is the time to rise and uplift humanity and make sure that we are taking care of the world around us.

Get The Most Important College Admissions Data In The Last 12 Months Delivered Straight To Your Inbox Now.