What Reviewers Look For in the SFU Beedie Social Responsibility Essay
This review looks at how clearly you explain your own role in an activity, its effect on other people or a community, what you learned or why it mattered to you, and how it connects to your future direction when those parts are asked. It also checks whether the response is clear, organized, focused, and complete within the instructions supplied for your application. A small local activity, paid job, informal responsibility, or routine you maintained can work; you do not need a leadership title, quantified impact, personal hardship disclosure, named business career, or SFU opportunity.
SFU Beedie Social Responsibility Essay review
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What We Check
Whether your part in an activity explains an effect on other people or a community.
Whether an understanding follows from the experience you describe.
Whether the experience explains your preparation and future direction.
Mistakes We Flag
- Claiming impact without showing it
- Saying you “made a difference” does not explain what you did or what changed for other people or the community. Describe your own part and the effect you observed.
- Letting the group’s achievement stand in for yours
- A team result alone may leave your role unclear. Explain the contribution you personally made, even if the work was shared.
- Using a title, award, or number as the whole evidence
- Titles, awards, and numbers do not by themselves show what happened for others. Connect them to your actions and their effect.
- Naming a lesson without explaining it
- Labels such as “leadership” or “teamwork” do not show what the experience taught you. State the understanding that came from the experience or why it became personally important, if that is what the question asks.
- Making a vague future claim
- “This prepared me for my future” or “I want to help people” needs a connection to the activity. Explain what you practiced or gained and the direction it supports.
How this rubric reads your essay
- Built from published reader guidance — the sources are listed below.
- Scored per section against defined criteria, not general impressions.
- Calibrated for consistent scoring, so a better draft shows up in the score.
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I include in this response?
For the supplied social-responsibility task, focus on one activity from the past four years, its effect on others or the community, what you learned from it, and how it prepared or shaped your future goals. Follow the current question in your application if it asks for something different.
Do I need a leadership role or a large, measurable impact?
No. Small local activities, paid work, informal responsibilities, shared work, and useful routines can all be relevant. You do not need a leadership title, an award, or quantified impact.
Do I need separate examples or paragraphs for each part?
No. The same experience can support more than one part of the response, and there is no required paragraph structure. Make the connections clear to the reader.
How long should it be?
The selected task supplied by an applicant used a 250–300-word range. That is not presented as a universal public SFU Beedie requirement; use the current question and limit in your application, and check your final count in the application portal.
Read the application writing guide
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