Boston College Supplemental Essays 2025-26 – Prompts and Advice
June 25, 2025
Boston College鈥檚 12.6% acceptance rate for the Class of 2029 is less than half of what it was just five years ago. Today, accepted students earn an average SAT score of 1500 and an average ACT score of 34. Additionally, you need an all-around stellar academic resume to get serious consideration at this highly selective Jesuit university. Writing an excellent Common App聽and Boston College supplemental essay are two of the more critical components of the BC application.
Want to learn more about how to create a strong application to BC? In addition to our blog on How to Get Into Boston College, head to for all our best free tools and resources, including an admissions calculator for 130+ institutions, college planning guides & templates, and example essays from accepted students.聽
Below are the BC supplemental essay prompts for the 2025-26 admissions cycle. Additionally, we offer tips about how to write a winning composition.
Boston College Supplemental Essays 鈥� 2025-26
We would like to get a better sense of you. Please respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit). Students applying to the Human Centered Engineering major should respond to Prompt #5 instead.聽
Prompt #1
Strong communities are sustained by traditions. Boston College’s annual calendar is marked with both long-standing and newer traditions that help shape our community. Tell us about a meaningful tradition in your family or community. Why is it important to you, and how does it bring people together or strengthen the bonds of those who participate?
BC is , so they’re curious to know more about one of the communities you’re part of vis-脿-vis the traditions you celebrate. Remember, “community” can be defined in myriad ways, from your ethnic, religious, or neighborhood community to your soccer team, summer camp, bird-watching club, or friend group.
Once you choose a community, think about what traditions you engage in together. The tradition you share can be formal or informal鈥攁nything from your summer camp’s annual talent show to your friend group’s yearly ugly Christmas sweater swap to your soccer team’s monthly group dinner. Why is this tradition important to you, and how has it brought your community of choice closer together? How has your involvement in this tradition鈥揳nd community as a whole鈥攕haped you or impacted your perspective?
Prompt #2
The late BC theology professor, Father Michael Himes, argued that a university is not a place to which you go, but instead, a “rigorous and sustained conversation about the great questions of human existence, among the widest possible circle of the best possible conversation partners.鈥� Who has been your most meaningful conversation partner, and what profound questions have you considered together?
The goal of this prompt is to gain insight into how you think and engage with others. Who do you engage in deep, challenging conversations with? For some, this may be a sibling, parent, grandparent, or other family member. For others, it may be a friend, spiritual leader, or teacher. Why is this relationship important to you?
Since the prompt simply asks you to reflect on “profound questions鈥� that you have considered together, feel free to choose any topic(s) you like, regardless of whether you and your conversation partner agree or have reached any sort of meaningful conclusion. How have you pushed each other’s thinking or navigated disagreements? How has your conversation partner challenged your beliefs or expanded your perspective?
Prompt #3
In her July 2009 Ted Talk, 鈥�,鈥� Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned viewers against assigning people a 鈥渟ingle story鈥� through assumptions about their nationality, appearance, or background. Discuss a time when someone defined you by a single story. What challenges did this present and how did you overcome them?
If you have been judged by your nationality, appearance, or background, this BC supplemental essay prompt is an opportunity to share a deeply personal story or show vulnerability and grit in overcoming obstacles. However, there is another legitimate avenue for addressing this prompt鈥�
Human beings have a tendency to pigeonhole others. Families, in particular, may take one incidence of something in childhood and define you by it for years (or even decades) to come. You don鈥檛 have to be part of a marginalized population to experience a reductive attack on your sense of self. Either approach to this prompt can result in an intriguing composition that reveals more about how you perceive the world.
Prompt #4
Boston College鈥檚 Jesuit mission highlights 鈥渢he three Be鈥檚鈥�: be attentive, be reflective, be loving 鈥� core to Jesuit education (see ). If you could add a fourth 鈥淏e,鈥� what would it be and why? How would this new value support your personal development and enrich the BC community?
The admissions committee wants to make sure that your personal values align with those of the university, as indicated in its mission statement. This mission is to foster 鈥渢he rigorous intellectual development and the religious, ethical and personal formation of its undergraduate, graduate and professional students in order to prepare them for citizenship, service and leadership in a global society.鈥� What additional values could help carry out this mission? Would you “be involved”? “Be helpful”? “Be vocal”? How come?
No matter which value you choose, be sure to discuss how it will help you grow personally as well as how it will enhance the larger BC community.
Prompt #5 鈥� HCE Applicants Only
Human-Centered Engineering (HCE) Applicants only:聽One goal of a Jesuit education is to prepare students to serve the Common Good. Human-Centered Engineering at Boston College integrates technical knowledge, creativity, and a humanistic perspective to address societal challenges and opportunities. What societal problems are important to you and how will you use your HCE education to solve them?
The merger of science/technology and humanity forms the core of the聽聽which opened its doors in the fall of 2021. You undoubtedly have reasons for choosing this particular engineering program that 鈥渋ntegrates BC鈥檚 core liberal arts curriculum with courses in foundational and advanced engineering that emphasize societal responsibility.鈥� You may want to use the list of foundational topics covered in the program as you enter the prewriting phase for this essay:
- Introduction to Human-Centered Engineering and Design
- Human Factors in Engineering Design
- Engineering for Development
- Engineering Foundations Studio (includes topics such as Dynamics, Circuits, Transport phenomena, Thermodynamics, and Environmental Systems)
- Introduction to Data Science and Machine Learning
- Advanced electives
- Collaborative Service Engineering Project
- Senior Impact Project
How important are the supplemental essays at Boston College?
Presently, Boston College considers two factors to be 鈥渧ery important鈥� in evaluating a candidate. They are: the GPA earned, and the rigor of one鈥檚 curriculum. Further, nine factors rate as 鈥渋mportant鈥�: class rank, recommendations, essays, extracurricular activities, talent/ability, character/personal qualities, legacy status, religious affiliation, and volunteer work. In other words, the essays are definitely an important admissions factor at BC.
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