Boston College Supplemental Essays 2026–27: Prompts & Tips

Applicants to Boston College must write one supplemental essay totalling 400 words [1]. The prompt you answer depends on your intended program of study. Most first-year applicants choose from four open-ended questions covering community, intellectual curiosity, identity, and values. However, if you are applying to the Human-Centered Engineering program, you do not get a choice; you must answer the specific engineering prompt instead. This guide covers the complete set of options required for all applicants.

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… (400 words)

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 fifth prompt. 1. 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? 2. 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? 3. 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? 4. 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? 5. Human-Centered Engineering (HCE) 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?

What this prompt is really asking: Boston College wants to evaluate your capacity for reflection and determine how your personal values align with their Jesuit identity. The admissions committee provides a menu of options ranging from intellectual dialogues to community traditions, but the underlying goal is identical across all five choices. They are testing whether you can think deeply about your own life, extract a meaningful lesson, and articulate how that perspective will enrich their campus.

A strong approach:

• Let your best anecdote decide: Do not choose your prompt first. Look at the stories you have not yet told in your main application, find the most vivid one, and map it to the option that fits best.
• Show the tradition in motion: For Option 1, drop the reader directly into a specific instance of your community ritual. Use sensory details to explain what it looks and feels like before you step back to analyze why it strengthens bonds.
• Ground the "Fourth Be" in evidence: If you choose Option 4, avoid spending your word count philosophizing about a concept. Prove you already embody this value by detailing a specific time you enacted it, then project how it will shape your involvement at Boston College.
• HCE applicants must bridge two worlds: Option 5 requires you to link hard technical skills with a humanistic outlook. Name a precise societal issue, explain why it matters to you personally, and detail how an interdisciplinary engineering degree will help you solve it.

Most common mistakes:

• Summarizing the source material: Options 2, 3, and 4 all reference external texts or quotes. Assume the reader is already familiar with them. Dedicate your 400 words entirely to your own experiences rather than analyzing Father Himes or Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
• Writing a one-sided conversation: If tackling Option 2, do not simply recount a time someone lectured you or a time you won an argument. A rigorous conversation requires push and pull. Show how your partner challenged your beliefs and forced you to refine your perspective.
• Dropping the second question: Every prompt in this set asks a multi-part question. Applicants often get so caught up in telling their story that they forget to answer the back half of the prompt, such as how a tradition brings people together or how a new value would support their personal development.