Boston College supplemental essays

• Prompt 1Required400 words max

  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

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

• Prompt 2Required400 words max

  Meaningful conversation partner

  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?

• Prompt 3Required400 words max

  Resisting a single story

  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?

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

• Prompt 4Required400 words max

  A fourth Be

  Boston College's Jesuit mission highlights 'the three Be's': be attentive, be reflective, be loving – core to Jesuit education (see A Pocket Guide 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?

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.

Program-specific prompts

These apply only if you are applying to the named program or school.

• Human-Centered EngineeringRequired400 words max

  HCE and society

  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?

  How to approach it

  Community and identity prompts reward specificity over significance. A small, true community described from the inside beats a broad label described from the outside. End on what you carry from it into a campus, not on a moral.