Speaker 1: Today I'm gonna be showing you guys just how easy it is to write the perfect college essay. How's it going? My name is Ashton Herndon and welcome to one of the most stressful periods of your entire life, the college application process. Everything you've done over the past four years has led up to this one application and what you decide to put on that paper will ultimately decide your fate for the next four years. So I mean, no pressure here. And even though I've spent a ton of time trying to perfect the college application process, I started to realize that getting into college is completely different than what I thought it would be. When I was in high school, getting into a good college was all I ever dreamed about. I mean literally. I was obsessed with getting into these big schools. So I did anything and everything I could to be the most lethal academic weapon. From getting straight A's to being involved with every club out there. Well, not that type of club. To even watching the best college youtubers out there. I was well on my way to this Ivy League status and nothing could stop me. But even after killing the SAT and crafting the perfect college resume, there was still one thing that stood between me and that sacred college acceptance letter. The college essays, baby. Up to this point, the one thing that all these superhuman students had in common was an amazing essay. And even though anybody out there could have a high GPA and test scores, these essays were the make-or-break decision between me getting into my dream school. And with so much pressure riding on one little essay, I locked in and did the one thing that I do best. Watched every YouTube video out there. But after spending hours watching these kids from Harvard and Princeton read their college essays, my confidence about getting into college became lower than ever. Every kid out there would talk about how they started their own business, cured world diseases, and even founded their own countries, all while getting perfect scores in school. And after reading all these New York Times best-selling essays, I started to think that there was no hope in me writing a good college essay. But after weeks of writing and a ton of bad ideas, I started to find ways to write the perfect college essay without putting in hours of effort like these superhuman students. And that's why I'm here today. I know that college essays can seem super impossible to write, but lucky enough for you, I've got a couple tricks up my sleeve to write the perfect college essay in less than an hour. Come on, I'll explain in the car. Oh hey, didn't see you there. So up to this point, you know, I've been in the college game for quite a while now, so I'm a pretty well-connected guy. And a lot of the buddies I made over the years have actually ended up working in admissions at their big-name schools. So naturally, I got all the tea on how to get into these big-name colleges. And surprise, surprise, they all come to me and say the biggest way to get in is... Oh, essays, by far. The essay is so important. The college essays. I mean, who would have thought? But even though every single school has different essay topics, almost every question out there can be broken down into one of these three topics. Your Common App essay, or your general essay. The Why Us essay, where they ask why you picked their college. And then those weird-ass questions like, what's your favorite color, or what movie character would you be? And even though it may be super stressful to write the most interesting essay out there, you really don't have to write a masterpiece to have a great essay. You just have to know what they're looking for. Ah, get it? Because it's a glasses store, and the glasses, they, uh, they help you see. I know, I know, it's kind of a stretch, but just stick with me here. So usually when you think of college essays, you think that you have to be way out of the box with what you write about. And to an extent, that's kind of true. But in reality, you have to do almost the opposite. Usually when you're writing your Common App essay, or any other essay that requires a specific situation, there's always a few key aspects that these colleges are looking for. Usually these aspects range from leadership, teamwork, community service, the list goes on. So my biggest suggestion when looking at a prompt is to ask yourself these two key questions. What does the college want me to say here? What interesting story do I have that can relate to that key aspect? And then, boom. You got yourself a winning college essay, baby. Along with hitting those key aspects, my biggest piece of advice is to never make yourself seem perfect. A lot of the time, these essay readers love reading about adversity. So if you've been through rough times in your life, literally just don't it. Because it's a great way to show those key aspects without bullshitting that you're perfect all the time. Huh, speaking of hard times, it's pretty damn hot out here. So I'll meet you guys back in the studio for our next tip. Thanks Ashton. So now that you've shown off all your skills to these colleges, you're gonna have to prove to them why you belong at their school. Which brings us to our next essay topic, the why us essay. And you know, if you're anything like me, I honestly had no idea why I wanted to go to these schools. So answering this question was super stressful at first. But there's a super simple way to make it seem like you know everything about a school without even stepping foot on campus. What I would do is look up a major I wanted to study at a specific school, click on that specific college's website, and literally just look at projects they're working on and professors in that major and mention it in my essay. I mean, it's that simple. By literally just mentioning a professor's work or a project you want to work on once you get there, it shows that you actually care about a specific program way more than a lot of other applicants out there. Just make sure to be specific with your reasons why and be very clear on what you'll actually contribute once you get there. And then boom, you look better than 90% of the kids out there. But even after showing off all your skills and how you fit perfectly into a school, there's still one curveball that nobody ever knows how to answer correctly. The oddball questions. These type of questions are pretty damn weird to say the least. It can range from anything from what's your favorite color, to what a wisdom tooth would have to say, to even some colleges that literally want you to make up your own damn question. I know, it's some pretty crazy shit. And even though it seems like there's no point in having these type of questions, this is where you can really take advantage of your answers. Colleges use these questions to show creativity in a way that other questions just simply can't do. But just because these essays are super far out there doesn't mean that there's not a right answer to them. Usually with these type of essays, you want to take advantage of just how crazy it is and use it as an opportunity to show another key aspect of yourself in a super unique way. The topics are usually so broad that you can really take control of the narrative and frame everything in a way that makes you sound super appealing. Just make sure that when you're writing, you pick an answer that incorporates a key aspect or an interesting topic. And please, for the love of God, make it unique. Because that's literally what the whole essay topic's for. So just don't waste it. College essays are meant to show how unique you are as a person and to prove to these colleges that you're much more than just grades and a test score. And even though it may seem impossible to master, at the end of the day, as long as you stick to these tips and embrace your true personal story, your college essay is gonna turn out ten times better than any of these superhuman students out there. Just trust me on this one. You got this. So with that being said, if you guys found this video helpful, please make sure to give it a thumbs up. I do respond to every single comment, so if you have any other questions or video ideas, make sure to leave them down below. I do have a playlist of everything you need to know about college, so if you want to go check it out, it'll be right here. And if you want to join the family of over 2.6 thousand subscribers now, you can click right here. And yeah, that's it for me this week, guys, and I will see you guys next week. Hit like, what was it, 24-0. I was like, this is gonna make a great vlog.