Supplemental essays · 2026–27 application
Boston College supplemental essays.
All 5 essay questions Boston College asks this year, word for word, with the word limits and how to approach each one.
Checked against bc.edu on October 17, 2026
What you write: Answer one of the first four prompts (400 words). Human-Centered Engineering applicants answer the fifth instead.
Prompts 2 and 3 open with someone else's words; we describe them, and BC's page has the full quotes.
A meaningful tradition
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?
How to approach it
- Say plainly what the community is.
- Show your place in it with one real scene.
- End with what you’d bring to campus.
Your conversation partner
(The prompt opens with the late BC theology professor Father Michael Himes, who described a university as a sustained conversation about the great questions of human existence among the best possible conversation partners.) Who has been your most meaningful conversation partner, and what profound questions have you considered together?
How to approach it
- Pick one moment and stay there. Readers remember a scene, not a summary.
- Spend at least a third of the essay on what you thought and how you changed.
- Read it out loud. If a line doesn’t sound like you, it isn’t done yet.
A single story
(The prompt opens with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk, which warned against giving 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?
How to approach it
- Say plainly what the community is.
- Show your place in it with one real scene.
- End with what you’d bring to campus.
A fourth Be
(The prompt opens with the three Be's of BC's Jesuit tradition: be attentive, be reflective, be loving.) 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?
How to approach it
- Take the question seriously enough to play with it.
- Let your answer show how you think.
- Keep it honest under the fun.
Human-Centered Engineering
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?
Human-Centered Engineering applicants only.
How to approach it
- Start with the moment the interest began.
- Show what you’ve already done about it: a class, a project, a book, a job.
- Say where you want to take it, even if you’re not sure yet.
Want a mentor on your essays?
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