University of Florida Essays 2025-2026

The University of Florida recently released its supplemental essay for the 2025-2026 admissions cycle. In this article, we will explain exactly what they are looking for in responses from applicants, so you can write essays that will get you admitted there.

1. 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)

Ideally for this essay, you should pick an extracurricular activity where you used a specialized skill that you spent time and effort honing to help someone in a tangible, meaningful way. A second-best option would be discussing research. If neither of these ideal topics applies to you, then the other topics they mentioned will also work. Only discuss one activity, the prompt’s wording makes it clear they want you to focus on a single activity. Also, because this essay is only 250 words, discussing multiple activities will dilute your essay.

You should start this essay with a strong, vivid first-person hook: either you doing something significant during the activity, or an event in your life prior to participating in the activity that created strong personal motivation for your commitment to it.

If you choose to start by describing yourself doing something significant during the activity, then describe what exactly this activity is. If you choose to start with a prior event to show your personal motivation for the activity that will form the bulk of this essay, discuss how that event shaped you and what it made you yearn to do.

If you go with the hook showing yourself doing the activity, then demonstrate how this activity tangibly improved someone's life or explain its main result. If you choose the experience that provided your personal motivation, connect what you yearned to do with the activity you chose.

From there, show the reader what you did as part of this activity—let the reader visualize you participating in it—and explain what the impact and results were. This is where both openings converge.

For both essay styles, if there is any opportunity to discuss how you overcame challenges while doing this activity, take advantage of it. Clearly explain the challenge, how you overcame it, and what you learned as a result.

Conclude this essay by describing either how this activity shaped your goals, aspirations, or perspectives, or how it recontextualizes the event in your life that made you yearn to engage in this activity and have this kind of impact.

If you want your college admissions essays to be the decisive factor that gets you into your dream school, schedule a free consultation with an admissions expert today to have all of your questions answered.