Boston College is a private Jesuit research university in Boston, well technically Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. While the school is Jesuit, you do not need to be religious. That being said, many students are Catholic and the campus does look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame might live there. They approach education by “educating a person as a whole.” The College has 4 undergraduate schools including a popular business and management school. BC is a midsized school with about 9,000 undergrads. It has an acceptance rate is around 19%. There supplement only has one question and it gives you options on what to write it about. So let's get into the ones we would choose, skip, and how to approach the BC supplement.
We would like to get a better sense of you. Please respond to one of the following prompts (400-word limit). Applicants to the Human-Centered Engineering major will select the 6th prompt. *
Most students have 5 choices. However, if you are applying to Human-Centered Engineering, you can skip down to the end. Everyone else, let’s break these down.
1. 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 tricky. Mainly because it’s actually two questions. The first is “what is a big question you grapple with?” And the second is “why do you want to go here?” These questions aren’t an easy pairing to pull off.
We only suggest this question for students who have big, critical questions on hand. Some students grapple with the meaning of life. Some don’t. If you are the latter, don’t take on this question. If you aren’t sure which you are, you probably should skip this question as well.
If you are a student who has big questions, this essay is fine to take on. But you shouldn’t just wax poetic about questions, once you have posited your question, you have to write about how BC will help you solve it. You should be using specifics to back up this point. It can be classes, a certain major, research opportunities, professors, student organizations, or even the honor code, but it needs to be BC specifics. And the more specific you can get the better. The goal is to show a strong overlap between opportunities at BC and your philosophy. This is a really hard question, so if you are struggling to figure out how higher-level chem classes can help you solve “are morals subjective?” just choose a different prompt.
2. 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 another question that only works for certain people. You should only take on this question if you did something to combat racial injustice. And ideally, if you still are doing something. It has to be more than going to one march or posting a black square on Instagram. It’s not only, what did you do in 2020? Two years later and there are very few protests in the streets… what have you still been doing? If you have a robust answer, this is a good question for you. If you are racking your brain, skip this question. This question is for those committed and dedicated to working towards racial equity.
If you have been putting in the work, this essay should be a story that shows the hows and whys of what you do. Maybe you started a mutual aid project, maybe you are an organizer, maybe you volunteer consistently with a justice org, etc. Use that experience to tell a story.
3. 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?
This is a question that anyone can take on. We usually recommend this question to students, especially if they don’t immediately gravitate to another prompt. This prompt is great because it lets you use a conversation to talk about your point of view and morals. The only trick of this essay is choosing the right conversation partner. If you choose the right partner, it’s almost like being able to talk about yourself twice.
This essay needs to hit two questions. Who is this person? And what are you talking about? This is most easily done through a conversation. This essay should have dialogue, a setting, and specifics. Show the reader what your discussions are like.
These stories tend to work better if you don’t agree on everything but try not to make your partner an obvious straw man. These conversations should be nuanced and multi-faceted. If you are 100 right and they are 100 wrong, the discussion probably isn’t great. Maybe you both make good points. The important thing in this question isn’t being right, it's about being able to challenge yourself through conversation.
4. 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.
The wording of this question is weird… 1) Socrates didn’t go to BC and 2) We are pretty sure Socrates wouldn’t have been using a Catholic prayer to reflect. Mostly because neither would have existed during his lifetime. Honestly, this question is easier if you ignore the quote altogether.
We also don’t suggest you get hung up on the word prayer. This essay can be about any time you reflected to get clarity. This essay runs the risk of becoming somewhat of a word salad if you don’t give it some structure. This isn’t the time to ramble about the nature of reflection, instead tell a story.
Your story should have 3 parts. The first part should tell the reader what prompted your introspection aka what was the issue? The second should be about how you contended with the issue and what thoughts you had. The third should be about the outcome. How was the issue resolved? If you go the prayer route, you can also follow this outline, however, the first part should also include the name of the prayer, how you learned it, and why this prayer is specifically important to you.
5. 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?
This question really isn’t about a book. It is a sneaky way to talk about yourself but to do that, you need to choose the right book. The book you choose should be unique, interesting, and you need to use it to say something about yourself.
The book you choose should not be something usually assigned in a high school English class. No Catcher in the Rye. No Great Gatsby. No YA books or anything too in the zeitgeist; so no Harry Potter, no Game of Thrones. You need to think outside the box.
Choose a book that you can relate to your personal story or worldview. It should feel meaningful and deep on some level. Also, this should go without saying, but make sure you’ve read and had a deep connection to the book. Honestly, maybe wouldn’t be a bad choice to re-read it.
6. Human-Centered Engineering (HCE) Applicants: 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?
So most applicants won’t do this question because it’s program-specific, but it’s too bad because it's a pretty good question. This question is asking why do you want to go here. Just like in prompt 1, this means you need to back this question with specifics. You should mention specific higher level (300-400s level) courses, a specific professor, and even an extracurricular if one fits. Everything you mention needs to be specific to BC. However, the trick in this essay, is all of these specifics should relate to a problem or two (seriously, do not try to take on more than a max of 3 problems for this essay) that you care about. Maybe your problem has to do with Global warming and clean water and you think you can solve these things through environmental engineering. You have to then talk about how classes and opportunities at BC will help you devise a solution for these issues.
The BC supplement gives you a lot of options. Take some time to choose the prompt that is best for you. Their prompts force you to be introspective, so make sure you're digging deep and give yourself plenty of time to brainstorm before diving headfirst into a topic.
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