Boston College

No deadlines published for this cycle yet. Check the source link above — we'll add them as soon as the school posts them.

Essay prompts (5)

1. community2026-27400 words

   Applies to: All first-year applicants: "Please respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit)." Human Centered Engineering applicants answer Prompt #5 instead.

   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?

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Boston College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

2. other2026-27400 words

   Applies to: All first-year applicants: "Please respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit)." Human Centered Engineering applicants answer Prompt #5 instead.

   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.' Who has been your most meaningful conversation partner, and what profound questions have you considered together?

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Boston College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

3. identity2026-27400 words

   Applies to: All first-year applicants: "Please respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit)." Human Centered Engineering applicants answer Prompt #5 instead.

   In her July 2009 Ted Talk, 'The Danger of a Single Story,' Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned viewers against assigning people a 'single story' 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?

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Boston College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

4. other2026-27400 words

   Applies to: All first-year applicants: "Please respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit)." Human Centered Engineering applicants answer Prompt #5 instead.

   Boston College's Jesuit mission highlights 'the three Be's': be attentive, be reflective, be loving – core to Jesuit education. If you could add a fourth 'Be,' what would it be and why? How would this new value support your personal development and enrich the BC community?

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Boston College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

5. academic interest2026-27400 words

   Applies to: Prompt #5, labeled "Human-Centered Engineering (HCE) Applicants only" — answered in place of the first four prompts. BC prints the 400-word limit next to the instruction for prompts 1-4; no separate limit is printed beside Prompt #5.

   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?

   This is the 2025-26 wording, carried over: Boston College has not republished this prompt for 2026-27 yet. Schools usually post updates around the Common App opening on August 1; we re-check after that and change this text only against an official source.

   source

Boston College tells applicants that personal statements, supplemental essays, and free responses must contain the student's own content. Students may use resources such as parents/guardians, English teachers, and school counselors, and "Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT may also serve as a resource, but must only be used as a guide; content must never be directly copied from AI or other sources." BC frames original content as both an ethical expectation and an advantage, since the Admission Committee values the applicant's authentic personal story.

How reviews use this page

When you request a review for a Boston College supplement, the feedback is grounded in exactly what you see here: the prompt itself, its word limit, and what the school publishes about its values and programs. That's the whole claim — calibrated to the prompt and the school's own published guidance, scored against a consistent rubric. Not insider knowledge, and never a rewrite: Second Read is a coach, not a ghostwriter. It flags weaknesses and tells you what to fix and why; it never writes a sentence of your essay.

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