Boston College is a private, research university in suburban Boston. Much of the BC campus looks like a stately church, that might be because it’s a Jesuit university. While you don’t have to be Jesuit or even Catholic to go there, they do have one of the largest Jesuit communities in the world on their campus. With a high application rate last year, their admissions hover around 18.9%.  

BC only makes you answer one 400 word question for their supplement and lets you choose from a list of prompts (unless you are applying to the For Human-Centered Engineering major, where you must answer prompt 6).

Students at Boston College are encouraged to consider critical questions as they pursue lives of meaning and purpose. What is a question that matters to you and how do you hope Boston College will help you answer it?

This question is trickier than it seems. Mostly because you have to actually answer two questions. If you chose this one, make sure you actually have an answer to the first ask of this prompt: what is a question that matters for you? If you find yourself racking your brain to think of something, best to just move on to the next one. Some students have frameworks that they use to make big decisions or grapple with the meaning of life-type questions. This prompt is really made for them and not for people who have to make up a question that works for them. 

The trick of this prompt is it is not really meant to wax poetic on a question from the universe, it’s actually a “why do you want to go here” prompt in disguise. While you need to have a philosophy at the top, the majority of your word count should be talking about why you would fit at BC. Make sure to do your research on a question like this. Specific details will help you. If you use this question to talk about what mortality means to you and don’t connect it to specific classes and opportunities at BC, you haven’t hit this question. You can talk about classes, professors, student groups, or even things like the honor code or school mission, but it needs to be BC-specific. You need to show there is an overlap between you, your personal philosophy on life, and BC, which is a tall order. This question isn’t for everyone. 

In 2020, we faced a national reckoning on racial injustice in America - a reckoning that continues today. Discuss how this has affected you, what you have learned, or how you have been inspired to be a change agent around this important issue.

This is a question that we have seen pop up on a lot of supplements and you have to be the right person to take this one on. Systematic racism touches everyone, but some way more than others. If you choose this prompt, you should have a specific story. Hundreds of thousands of people marched for Black Lives Matter, why is your experience different? We tend to advise you only to take on a racial justice question if you have really put in the work. If your activism is posting an infographic, this isn’t the place for you. For this, we want stories from people who really grapple with these issues and have the work to back it up. Did you organize an event? Did you start a mutual aid project? Did you consistently try to change yourself and others? If these aren’t clear yeses, skip this one. If you have, use this question to talk about your work and tell a story about the hows and whys of activism for you. 

At Boston College, we hope to draw on the Jesuit tradition of finding conversation partners to discuss issues and problems facing society. Who is your favorite conversation partner?  What do you discuss with that person?

If we are being honest, this is the choice that we would select. If you choose the right secondary character, it is pretty much an excuse to talk about yourself twice. You can reflect your own morals and values off the character and still talk about yourself. This is a chance to highlight your values. As with all of these questions, you should tell a story. The easiest way to do this is to include a setting and dialogue. Pick a conversation partner and a specific issue then write a scene between the two of you. Make sure you hit both of the questions in this prompt. You need to introduce your partner and tell the reader about them and then write about what you talk with them about. Include specifics and add dialogue. 

Socrates stated that “the unexamined life is not worth living.” Discuss a time when reflection, prayer, or introspection led to clarity or understanding of an issue that is important to you.

We like this question, but we are always a little confused when colleges use a quote from someone who isn’t connected to the school in any way. Simply, this question really doesn’t need to be about Socrates. If you are someone who isn’t religious (like Socrates himself) you can still answer this question, just focus on the introspection piece. This question seems very philosophical but really your answer should be a simple story. 

You should structure this prompt as a story with 3 parts. The easiest way to break down these 3 parts is with the introspection lens. The beginning: what happened to prompt your introspection? The middle: how did you contend with the issue and what thoughts did you have? And the end: what was the outcome?  If you chose a prayer, you can set it up similarly, however, the beginning should center around where you heard the prayer and why it hit you in the way it did. 

Each year at University Convocation, the incoming class engages in reflective dialogue around a common text. What book would you recommend for your class to read and explore together – and why?

So for this one you have to pick a book and it has to be an interesting one. You cannot pick anything obvious or not out of the box. Don’t use anything that everyone has to read in high school. This means no Great Gatsby, no To Kill a Mocking Bird, no Hamlet. Similarly, don’t pick anything too pop-y. No Y/A fiction in general but especially no Harry Potter. You should pick a book or text that really says something about you. This question is a really sneaky way to talk about yourself. The text you should be unique, interesting, and impactful. And we can’t believe we have to say this, but yes, you need to actually have read whatever you recommend for this question. 

For Human-Centered Engineering major applicants only: 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?

It’s too bad that this question is only for a specific major tract because it’s a really good question. This question is another “Why come to this school?” essay. Remember that this means spending a little time researching the school. You should have specific high-level classes (think 300-400 level) and professors ready to reference here. You can throw in an extracurricular activity as well, but everything needs to feel specific to BC. This question is asking you to show a Venn diagram between the problems you have chosen to talk about and BC. You should choose a maxim of 3 problems and they should be interconnected and important to you. For example, if your main issue is homelessness, housing shortages, and urban decay, might be easy issues to tie in and talk about Environmental racism and how a degree from BC might help you solve it. 

There are a lot of ways to approach this supplement. Since there are so many prompts, don’t try to force yourself into one that feels hard to answer. Some of these prompts were written for specific students in mind. We recommend reading through all the prompts and then thinking for a moment which best fits with your own background. BC gives you up to 400 words, so you should have time with any of these prompts to make your answer feel like a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. This will help ground your answer. 

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