Prompt database · 2026-27 cycle
Boston College
Deadlines
sourceNo 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)
4 required · 1 for specific applicants
- communityAll applicants2026-27400 words
Source details
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?
- otherAll applicants2026-27400 words
Source details
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?
- identityAll applicants2026-27400 words
Source details
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?
- otherAll applicants2026-27400 words
Source details
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?
- academic interestPrompt #5, labeled "Human-Centered…2026-27400 words
Source details
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?
The school's published AI policy
Personal statements, supplemental essays, and free responses provide students with a valuable opportunity to have an authentic voice in the college admission process. While students may turn to a variety of resources such as parents/guardians, English teachers, and school counselors in order to generate ideas, the content must be their own. 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. The submission of original content not only adheres to the ethical expectations in applying to college, but benefits the applicant by having their authentic personal story valued by the Admission Committee.
the school’s published policyChecked Sep 8, 2026
Our reading
Boston College requires that essay content be the student's own, but explicitly lists generative AI alongside parents, teachers, and counselors as a permitted resource to be used "as a guide," barring only direct copying.
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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