How to Write the Florida State University Essay

The FSU acceptance rate is 37%. It is a motivation for a candidate to prepare better because the goal is possible to achieve. At the same time, it is not a reason to relax. It is high time to review the application forms and prepare to submit them. FSU application forms come in standard types which are Coalition and Common. Both applications require an essay prompt to be completed. Remember that a catchy and meaningful essay increases the chances of the candidate to get the spot. If your writing skills are weak, it is the time to improve them. An essay is always a challenge for a student, but when you have in mind the things admissions officers are looking for, you will do better.

The Why FSU Essay Prompts

It is crucial to understand the intention behind every assignment you are given since you are going to be a college student now. The college essays will be following you around from now on. The FSU essay prompts are designed to demonstrate a set of skills that a candidate mastered during school time. The admission officer providing an essay review has an eye for talented people, and of course a list of criteria. Let’s look into the topics that FSU offers. Each of them has a different focus. Although at a first glance they do not seem to be a challenge when you get to the assessment criteria your viewpoint will change.

Prompt 1 “Tell a story from your life, describing an experience that either demonstrates your character or helped to shape it.” 

This piece aims at seeing how events of your life influenced your personality and shaped your worldview. You can be as creative as you want with the idea of the answer. Remember the main thing, that the officer wants to see how you mastered the art of narration.

Your essay should aim to describe the thought process, a complex mental activity. However, the sentences you write should not be as complex and long-winded. Try using a hint. Put down a sentence or a couple of them. Then delete the words randomly and see if you can still grasp the sense. If the answer is yes, then some parts are redundant.

Prompt 2 “Describe a time when you made a meaningful contribution to others in which the greater good was your focus. Discuss the challenges and rewards of making your contribution.”

To start with, recall any program or extracurricular activity you were involved in. By no means, the fact you participated is enough. It narrows down the search areas for the ideas. In this section, you need to describe a deed that served as a contribution to someone’s well being. To be more specific, use these questions to find the idea:

• Did I do something extraordinary that changed someone else’s life (community, individual, etc) without getting any advantage from it?
• What lesson did I learn from it?

Prompt 3  “Has there been a time when you’ve had a long-cherished or accepted belief challenged? How did you respond? How did the challenge affect your beliefs?” 

This section aims at checking your mental preparedness for college life and the collapse of multiple opinions. The college values independent people who can stand up for their point of view and prove it. So, what you want to showcase here is your belief in something and how it was challenged by your environment. It can be a case of religion, but also any idea you followed. Describe the influence of something completely opposite to your belief happening and how it influenced your mental state.

Prompt 4  “What is the hardest part of being a teenager now? What’s the best part? What advice would you give a younger sibling or friend (assuming they would listen to you)?”

Writing this section should start with flags or things to avoid. Remember that the admissions officer reading the essay prompt is most probably a parent, high chances are that he has a teenager. Expressing a one-sided point of view on some issues of a parent – teenage relationships might be disrespectful. Hence, whatever you write, stay polite.

This section can be entertaining, and not necessarily serious. Jokes, funny incidents that happened to you when you got your first car, job, went on a school trip, are suitable for this topic. Bear in mind that 550 words that are allowed for this prompt are not enough for describing a series of events. Stick to one idea not to lose the focus.

Prompt 5  “Submit an essay on a topic of your choice.” 

This topic deserves the title of the most provocative one. It tricks students into thinking that the task allows a flight of fancy. Under no circumstances should you forget that the rules of writing stay the same for every topic. You need to stick to the principles:

• Make up precise and meaningful sentences
• Select a limited number of ideas and keep the focus on them
• Have well -thought structure
• Draw conclusions
• Avoid redundancy
• Make impressions with your words

3 Cliches, That Should be Avoided

Essays for admission to Florida State University often contain typical stories and clichés, which will be discussed in this material. “Tell us about your personal qualities, talents, achievements or experience that you consider the most significant.” In one form or another this question is asked when entering almost any American university, forcing members of the Admission Committee to read thousands of essays that differ so little from each other.

So, how can you make your essay noticed in the ocean of the same stories? Begin with the choice of a suitable topic, which will help you describe your experience in a capacious and sincere way, while demonstrating the opportunity to write beautifully.

However, it is easy to say not to do. Before choosing what you will write about in your fsu essay, it is useful to know which topics should be avoided and why. Here are some of the most popular template topics.

1. A story about a volunteer project demonstrating your willingness to help others.

“Many applicants decide to write about their participation in the volunteer project or involvement in the activities of the church,” says Marie Chaufer, head of the Admissions Committee. “This is a wonderful experience that has undoubtedly affected your personal development. The only problem is that wherever you go and whatever projects you are involved in, the conclusion is always the same – you like helping people. And it’s great, – she explains, – but, unfortunately, this experience will not help you stand out against the background of other applicants».

2. “Continuity of a certain profession in your family” as a topic of fsu essay example.

“There is nothing wrong with being proud that your family is also associated with the profession you have chosen, but the continuity speculation does not help you “sell” yourself to the admissions committee,” explains Christopher Hall, assistant professor at the University. “Perhaps Mick Jagger is an excellent singer,” he adds, “but this does not guarantee that this gift was passed on to his children. Therefore, it’s better to tell about your own talents and abilities, and not about the achievements of your great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers.”

3. Overcoming sports trauma in the center of the narrative of your admission essay.

As Drew Nichols, the member of the Admissions Committee of the University of St. Edwards, rightly points out: “Applicants of most American universities come from different classes of society. Many promising candidates had to go through such difficulties as poverty, a difficult family situation, a serious illness. The essay on the topic of a sports injury demonstrates only by the fact that you do not realize how lucky you are.” “If you bring the inability to play football for one semester as the biggest difficulty in your life,” he explains, “then you simply do not realize what challenges some of your peers have to face.”

Summary

Every professional admission writer knows that essay prompts require scrupulous work. It is not a 5-minute assignment although the number of words and simplicity of the topics tell you so. It is a mistake to think that the requirements that the university sets are intentionally misleading. The real reason behind it is to sieve candidates that do not meet their standards. Writing an essay prompt is impossible without the previous research of the university background, academic life, and goals. If you are a candidate you need to know what value the university is looking for. The essay serves as a way to convey your understanding of the university’s policies and great aim.