university of florida application essays

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University of Florida Supplemental Essays 2024-25 — Prompt & Advice

August 12, 2024

At the turn of the millennium, the University of Florida welcomed 63% of Gator applicants to Gainesville and functioned as a fairly accessible and highly affordable option for residents of the Sunshine State. However, by 2024, while still extremely affordable, the task of becoming a Gator has become far more difficult. They now receive over 67,000 applications and accept roughly 25% of those who apply. Incoming freshmen now possess an average unweighted GPA of 3.93 and SAT scores of 1320-1470. Another commonality amongst accepted students is that they write an excellent University of Florida supplemental essay.

(Want to learn more about How to Get Into UF? Visit our blog entitled: How to Get Into the University of Florida: Admissions Data and Strategies for all of the most recent admissions data as well as tips for gaining acceptance.)

When applying to an institution like the University of Florida that rejects more than 7 of every 10 applicants, you’ll need to put maximum effort into every area of the application, including the Common App and supplemental essay. Below is the University of Florida’s required supplemental prompt for the 2024-25 admissions cycle along with our advice for composing a winning essay.

University of Florida Supplemental Essay – Required

Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity. (250 words)

The University of Florida is not necessarily asking you to write about the activity where you earned the most prestigious awards or held the highest position of leadership. The university is going to see all of your activities in that section of the Common App. As such, you want to ask yourself which of your entries is crying out for more explanation and detail. Which one is closest to your heart and most representative of your unique passions? Pick the option that will allow you to deliver additional detail that may be memorable to the admissions reader. Start this process by asking yourself, “What is the most interesting and consequential moment that I have experienced in one of my extracurricular activities?” If you can identify one clear-cut moment, that is likely the activity worth sharing with the UF admissions staff.

University of Florida Supplemental Essays (Continued)

At the core of this essay prompt, the UF admissions officers are really trying to figure out what you will bring to the Gainesville campus community . Again, what you achieved in a particular extracurricular activity will already be viewable in your Common App Activities Section and the Common App Honors Section , so you don’t want to make that the focus of this essay. Instead, you may want to touch on some of the following areas related to your role as a community member:

How you function as a member of a team.
Your leadership ability.
Your passion, commitment, and drive.
A commitment to social justice and equity.
How you respond to challenges and obstacles.
Illustrate how you have demonstrated maturity and dependability.

How important are the University of Florida supplemental essays?

The University of Florida lists six factors as being “very important” to the admissions committee. They are: GPA, standardized test scores, talent/ability, character/personal qualities, extracurricular activities, and the rigor of your secondary school record and most relevant to this blog—the application essay. It’s important to keep in mind that UF places both the essays and extracurricular involvement in the top tier of importance. Therefore, this essay is something of a two-for-one. Further, the essay is rated as being of greater importance than class rank, standardized test scores, or your state residency status.

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Looking for additional writing resources? Consider checking out the following:

Common App Essay Prompts
10 Instructive Common App Essay Examples
College Application Essay Topics to Avoid
How to Quickly Format Your Common App Essay
Should I Complete Optional College Essays?
How to Brainstorm a College Essay
25 Inspiring College Essay Topics
“Why This College?” Essay Examples
How to Write the Community Essay
College Essay

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University of Florida 2024-25 Supplemental Essay Prompt Guide

Early Action: Nov 1

Regular Decision Deadline: Jan 15

The Requirements: 1 essay of 250 words

Supplemental Essay Type(s): Activity

How to Write the University of Florida Supplemental Essay

With only one supplemental essay, the University of Florida is making it easy for you to complete their application—but don’t take this opportunity lightly! In this essay, they’re aiming to assess your “quality of thought,” so make sure you give it the attention it deserves. Keep reading to discover our University of Florida supplemental essay tips!

University of Florida Prompt Breakdown

Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. this could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, an academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity. (250 words).

What would your life be mundane without? Elaborate on an activity, responsibility, or passion that is meaningful to you. Unlike an activities resume entry, this should be expanded to reflect your priorities, worldview, and sense of purpose. Do you babysit your cousins when your aunt gets called into work? How does it feel to support your family members in this way and what does the phrase, “it takes a village,” mean to you? Do you foster rescue cats until they find their forever homes? What does this hobby mean to you? Maybe you inherited your animal love from your dad who used to work as a farmhand. Use your experiences to tell admissions something about you they wouldn’t already know from your list of extracurriculars. What gives your life meaning? Why do you wake up in the morning? What are you working toward?

Honors College Only:

As albert einstein once said, “the important thing is not to stop questioning. curiosity has its own reason for existing.” reflecting on this, what academic subjects, learning opportunities, or extracurricular activities are you most excited to engage in during your college experience how do you imagine or hope the uf honors program will help feed your curiosity and help you achieve your aspirations (400 words).

This is a classic Why Essay even if it’s not incredibly obvious, although rather than asking only about your interest in the university in general, UF also wants to know why you are applying for the Honors Program. This essay calls for—say it with us now—research! Block off a solid hour or two to noodle around UF’s website , looking at the courses, clubs, research opportunities, study abroad experiences, musical ensembles, intramural sports teams, or anything else about the school that attracts you. The prompt focuses on curiosity, so mention every aspect that appeals to you in a college experience, even if they don’t connect elegantly into one major or focus. Take some time to learn about the Honors Program in particular, noting which courses, student activities, teaching assistantships, or retreats will help quench your thirst for discovery and prime you to reach your personal, academic, and professional goals. How does UF in general and the Honors Program in particular fit your hopes, dreams, and expectations for your college experience and beyond?

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A Great University of Florida Essay Example

What’s covered:.

Essay Example
Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay

The University of Florida is a large public university in Gainesville that is known for both its academics and party scene. You have to really stand out in order to gain admission to this selective university, which is why your essays have to shine. In this post, we’ll share a real essay a student submitted to the University of Florida, and outline its strengths and areas of improvement. (Names and identifying information have been changed, but all other details are preserved).

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized.

Read our University of Florida essay breakdown to get a comprehensive overview of this year’s supplemental prompts.

Essay Example

Prompt: Please provide more details on your most meaningful commitment outside of the classroom while in high school and explain why it was meaningful. This could be related to an extracurricular activity, work, volunteering, any academic activity, family responsibility, or any other non-classroom activity. (250 words)

Attending high school in the U.S brought me many new experiences, but also disappointments. At my school, students mostly learned how to memorize theory. Lessons were conducted simply as teachers lectured the students until the bell rang. The old-fashioned teaching style with the lack of critical thinking led students to crumble into the shells. Therefore, I decided to make changes by creating a Speech and Debate Club in my school so that students could learn to comfortably express their viewpoints and further gain confidence in public speaking.

As the club’s leader, I created an environment that encouraged the members to freely voice their viewpoints and solutions for problems happening in our community and society. To help them improve their critical thinking and public speaking skills, I signed up all members for the State Speech and Debate Championship. I also took an active role in scheduling practice for the members after school and helping them find logical evidence and outline their speeches. I also trained the members to find flaws in the opponent’s arguments. With these efforts, we won the Silver Medal in Public Forum Debate and Sportsmanship Awards in the State Speech and Debate Championship.

Even though the Speech and Debate Club is only a year old, I believe it is meaningful for many students in helping them comfortably articulate their ideas to make positive changes in our school and community.

What the Essay Did Well

This essay does a good job of picking an extracurricular activity that was meaningful to this student and explaining why it was important to them. “ Extracurricular ” essays are a great opportunity to provide context on why you participated in a certain activity in high school and showcase the impact it had on you. This student fully answers the prompt by both explaining what the activity was and why it was important to them.

The opening paragraph also reveals a lot about how this student thinks and how they value education. They aren’t shy about their criticism of the traditional learning model, where students memorize and regurgitate information. The University of Florida wants to admit students who think critically and want to challenge the status quo, so this paragraph is a great way for admissions officers to see that this is the type of student they want. This isn’t to say that you need to disparage your school and teachers, but a good essay should reveal some insight into the way you think and value learning.

What Could Be Improved

The biggest thing this essay needs to work on is showing, not telling . The author tells us that they created an environment where people could share ideas. The author tells us that they helped members of the club strengthen their speeches. The author tells us the training they provided helped their team win a medal at the championship. But they don’t show us anything.

The way the essay is currently written, it reads more as a resume description. Admissions officers will learn the same information from this essay as they will from reading the activities section of the application. The point of this essay is to humanize these accomplishments and highlight key traits of your personality or growth.

Rather than telling us what occurred, this student should show us the conversations they had with struggling team members to display their leadership skills. Rather than telling us they created a safe environment, they should show us unlikely friendships being made through their club and the joy they felt. Rather than telling us they won, the student should describe what it felt like to hear their school’s name: “ The world stood still. All I could hear over the thunderous thump of my heart were gulps of excess air. Wait, what did they say?! We won!”

Show, don’t tell is old advice, but it really can make all the difference in an essay. If this student rewrote the story so the reader was actively placed in the moment, it would be far more successful.

Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay

Do you want feedback on your University of Florida essays? After rereading your essays countless times, it can be difficult to evaluate your writing objectively. That’s why we created our free Peer Essay Review tool , where you can get a free review of your essay from another student. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!