Hello! I am a brand new fresh minecraft player (I know, how did it take me this long?).

Hello.

I'm also on console right now to get that out of the way.

So, I assume you're on the console of a Survival Multiplayer Server?

I want to start a survival island type game for myself and a couple friends and I want to know how to set that up. Is it possible to tell the game to put us on a randomly generated island?

If you do not want to be at the mercy of RNG-esus, you're better off either:

• Downloading a custom-made map that follows the Survival Island theme or,
• Find a seed that others' have discovered that fits your description. Otherwise:
• Generate random worlds and hope for the best that the random seed you get does what you want. Otherwise, try, try again.

Because as far as I can tell I can input a seed and it'll generate whatever that seed is, but I just want a random island seed.

The reason you aren't getting what you want is because Minecraft seeds are simply modifiers for the random number generator that powers the infinite expanse of a Minecraft world. Every time the generator tries to create something, that number will change its outcome.

Since you cannot predict what a seed will produce, the only way to get an island-generating seed is to experiment and hope you get one, or find one that is already discovered.

I'm just trying to find the best way to go about this and any and all help will be greatly appreciated. Also any tips on how to further set up the world would be nice (i.e. to use classic world vs. large or medium or small, should I generate structures, etc.)

Assuming you have a seed that creates an island in the middle of nowhere (an ocean), all the modifiers does is stretch/shrink/etc. your world.

so basically...

A seed is a number that changes the outcome of the Random Number Generators that creates the "infinite" expanses of your Minecraft world. As you know, by changing that number, you can yield different results.

However, since your seed affects everything, including land formations and biome locations, your best bet is to experiment until you find one... Otherwise, hope you can find a seed number that others have discovered that fits your criteria.

I still can't find one.

If you're playing 1.9, use seed -889107855504545199 and go to (1322 Y 4920). If there's no trees, then spawn a sapling.
If you want to play in 1.10, then create the world in 1.9 and then open it in 1.10.