Boston College has published its 2026-2027 supplemental admissions essays for applicants to the Class of 2031. This year, in addition to the Personal Statement on The Common Application, Boston College applicants are asked to respond to one of four prompts with 400 words or less.

2026-2027 Boston College Essay Topic and Short Answers

Applicants are asked to respond to one of the following essay questions in 400 words or fewer:

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?

The tradition you pick should highlight an aspect of your identity or journey as a student and human being that underscores your ability to think critically about the world around you. Some students may choose this prompt to take advantage of the Roberts Loophole, which is an exception carved out in the 2023 SCOTUS case outlawing Affirmative Action that permits students to discuss how their racial or religious differences have informed their lives. Others may see this prompt as a green light to discuss how their singular hook, A.K.A. the passion that informs who they are as a learner, manifests as a deeply-held local tradition, practice, or recurring event.

No matter the subject, students who choose this prompt are well-advised to articulate how this tradition manifests aspects of BC’s Jesuit tradition. Peppering in a few examples of how you will continue to practice this tradition by getting involved on campus wouldn’t hurt either!

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?

When choosing a person to write about for this prompt, you should avoid your friends and family at all costs. However, you should also avoid anyone with whom you haven’t had a real conversation. No, Barack Obama and Greta Thunberg don’t count as conversational partners! 

Instead, choose a local figure in your community who has shaped your educational trajectory. It could be a supervisor at your internship, a professor you’ve conducted research with, or perhaps just someone you met in passing but whose words stuck with you for a long time. And as far as the contents of your conversation, pick something that will serve as a jumping-off point for a discussion of your singular hook. And whatever you do, don’t describe a conversation that happened before high school. BC admissions officers don’t want to get to know you as a child.

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?

This prompt is, in essence, Boston College’s attempt to probe how adversity has shaped your experience. If you feel your identity, including your race, religion, sexuality, or other lived experience of difference, can’t be best captured through the traditions prompt, you might consider this option to make use of the Roberts Loophole. But note that Boston College doesn’t want to hear about the time your flight to an exotic vacation was delayed, or the time your laptop broke down. Challenges mean genuine challenges, the kind of adversity that shapes a person for the rest of their lives. Choosing something trivial or that conveys privilege will make you seem dramatic.

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?

This is BC’s Jesuit version of the classic “Why College” prompt. To start things off, state your four “Be” outright! Then, use every last word to articulate how this “Be” would serve as a jumping-off point for your engagement with everything that BC has to offer. That’s where the second half of the prompt comes in. Show, rather than tell, how this fourth Be would present itself as you weave your way through campus, engaging with real resources and opportunities on offer at Boston College. Yes, this means you need to do your research about the exciting things you can do with access to a BC education!

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?

Note that students applying to the Human Centered Engineering major must choose this prompt.

For students intent on the HCE program, this is a standard “Why Major?” question. You should come armed with specific after specific of both personal anecdotes that convey the journey you’ve been on to pursue this field of study and examples of the Boston College resources in the HCE department that will allow you to take this pursuit to the next level on campus.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance with Boston College Essays

If you’re interested in giving yourself the best chance of earning admission to Boston College by submitting essays that are irresistible to Boston College admissions officers, fill out Ivy Coach’s complimentary consultation form, and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our college counseling services for seniors.