Boston College Majors at a Glance

How big is Boston College? Private college Boston College was established in 1863. The overall number of students enrolled is 15, 046 for the autumn of 2021, with 9,532 of those being undergraduates and 5,514 being graduate students. The campus is 405 acres in size, and its location is suburban. The academic calendar is based on semesters.

Boston College is ranked #36 in National Universities in the Best Colleges 2022–2023 edition. The cost of tuition and fees is $64,176. Boston College was established by the Society of Jesus and has continued to practice Roman Catholicism.

The main campus is situated in Newton’s charming Chestnut Hill district, which is close to downtown Boston and serviced by public transit. The majority of the academic and housing halls, as well as the university’s athletic facilities, cafeteria facilities, and oldest buildings, are all located on this campus.

It is categorized as a university with a high level of research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. There are nine academic institutions at BC, including the Carroll School of Management, Lynch School of Education, and Boston College Law School, all of which offer highly regarded graduate degrees.

A total of 59 separate undergraduate degrees are concentrated into 45 Boston College majors within 20 major disciplines of study offered in the institution. Approximately, 1:11 is the faculty-to-student ratio, and 94% of BC’s 882 full-time professors have doctorates.

The BC Eagles have one of the greatest graduation rates for student-athletes in the nation, and the school competes in roughly 30 NCAA Division I varsity sports in the Atlantic Coast Conference. There are more than 300 clubs and organizations available for students to join, however, there is no Greek system on campus. Although freshmen don’t need to reside on campus, most do. Each year, more than a thousand students go abroad to study.

What Is the Acceptance Rate for Boston College?

Boston College’s admissions procedure is holistic. Even though the school chooses students based on their academic aptitude and readiness, the admissions officers also include a variety of abilities and backgrounds in each class and consider how each student will benefit the larger BC community.

Each application is given the same degree of attention and consideration that students have given Boston College in terms of time and effort. Boston College evaluates the student’s academic performance, standardized test results, extracurricular activities, teacher and peer evaluations, and writing style in their decisions. There is no set method for admission; rather, BC aims to enroll in a class that is diverse in terms of students’ academic backgrounds, learning preferences, abilities, and personalities.

Now, if you’re curious “What is the acceptance rate for Boston College?”, the most competitive admissions cycle of any incoming class resulted in one of Boston College’s largest classes in history. However, one incredibly distinctive feature of the Class of 2025, attributable to COVID-19, is that its students completely investigated BC as their potential college destination via remote means, from Zoom chats to smartphone campus tours.

The 2,516 members of the Class of 2025 were chosen out of 39,847 candidates, representing the lowest acceptance percentage in BC history (19%). This demonstrates how selective the school is. You have a good chance of being admitted if you meet Boston College’s requirements for GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and other application requirements. Even if you meet all other admissions requirements, you will have a very slim chance of being admitted if your GPA or SAT/ACT scores are below average.

Boston College needs you to be at the top of your class with a 3.96 GPA. To compete with other applications, you’ll need to receive almost all A’s. You should also enroll in challenging classes, such as AP or IB courses, to demonstrate that college-level coursework is simple, despite your choice of study among the Boston College majors.

Strong academic credentials are essential to enhance your chances of admission to this school due to its high level of selection. You will have a good chance of admission if your SAT score is 1490 or higher. It will be difficult for you to be accepted if your SAT score is 1370 or lower.

During this admission cycle—from the summer of 2020 to this past spring—the Office of Undergraduate Admission had to veer away from many tried-and-true methods of interacting with applicants and students who were accepted, such as in-person campus tours or gatherings and presentations that were typically held in Devlin Hall.

Grant Gosselin, the director of undergraduate admission, and his coworkers used technology-enabled substitutes, such as virtual “open house” sessions that highlighted the academic and social highlights of the BC experience and live-video tours of the campus led by student volunteers using smartphones and camera stabilizers.

Is Boston College A Diverse School?

Given that Boston College is selective, you might ask “Is Boston College a diverse school?” For the Class of 2025, the institution has admitted its best and most diverse group of students in university history, including 42% of AHANA students, 11% of first-generation students, 53% are female students, and 7% of overseas students.

Secondary School Attendance

Represented by a total of 1,713 high schools from 45 states and 45 countries.

• Catholic and/or Jesuit: 28.1%
• Private/Independent: 45%
• Public: 51.8%

Geographic Distribution

• New England: 30.96%
• Mid-Atlantic: 30.41%
• Midwest: 9.02%
• South/Southwest: 10.69%
• West: 10.69%
• Other US States: 0.95%
• Worldwide: 7.27%

Top 10 Nations Represented

• China
• South Korea
• United Kingdom
• India
• Hong Kong
• Brazil
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Japan

Ten percent of the class are first-generation college students, and BC enrolled 106 students through QuestBridge, a non-profit program that assists bright, low-income students in getting into the best colleges and universities in the nation and receiving scholarships. This was the University’s first year taking part in QuestBridge. Pell Grants, federal financial aid provided to undergraduate students with the greatest financial need, are awarded to 14% of the class. The number of Pell Grant recipients entering BC this year is 346, which is the second-highest number ever recorded at the University. BC is the fourth best Pell Grant recipient graduation rate in the nation.

What Majors Is Boston College Known For?

What majors is Boston College known for? Boston College majors are composed of more than a hundred undergraduate majors with specializations and minors.  This gives the students the chance to earn degrees in a variety of interdisciplinary fields. Students participate in the Core Curriculum in addition to the courses they take for their majors, minors, and electives, pushing them beyond their comfort zones and supporting the Jesuit goal of educating the full person.

The office of institutional research and planning releases enrolment data for the academic year 2021–2022. This academic year, the most popular undergraduate majors are once again economics (1,208 students enrolled), finance (1,203), biology (807), political science (769), communication (615), and psychology (548), a ranking that hasn’t altered much in the last ten years.

The Institutional Research and Planning division at BC produced enrollment data for the University’s 9,532 undergraduate day students and 5,574 graduate students during the fall 2021 semester.

Computer science (494), nursing (419), and applied psychology and human development (414) are the other majors with the highest enrollment for the current academic year. Neuroscience, which debuted in 2019, is currently BC’s 10th most popular major with 383 students.

Additionally, the IR&P survey for 2021–2022 discovered that 37% of BC undergraduates are majoring in a STEM subject.

Finance is the second-most popular minor in BC, behind management and leadership (267), marketing (241), philosophy (152), history (144), managing for social impact (128), medical humanities (119), computer science (118), global public health (108), and international studies. Finance is also the second-most popular major in BC (94).

According to other figures, BC’s Carroll School of Management has 1,037 graduate students, closely followed by the Lynch School of Education and Human Development (1,035) and BC Law (880). Along with the BC School of Social Work (273) and BC Law, the Carroll School and Lynch School conferred the most graduate degrees between August 2020 and May 2021, 366 and 313, respectively (235).

Insights into the interests, motivations, and aspirations of BC undergrads may be gained from yearly statistics like these, claim university administrators and teachers.

According to the officers, the popularity of some Boston College majors and minors may be a reflection of broader cultural and generational trends, but it also undoubtedly reflects the values of the students who have decided to pursue a Jesuit, Catholic education.

Five undergraduate majors at Boston College were in the top five in the country: sociology (#4), communication (#3), marketing (#3), philosophy (#4), and accounting (#4). English (#11), Finance (#7), History (#13), Mathematics (#9), and Psychology (#8) are some of the other undergraduate degree disciplines that made the top 15 list. Boston College was ranked #2 in the nation for graduate and professional degrees in finance and #17 in law.

How To Get Into Boston College?

Boston College has an extremely high admissions standard. Approximately 19% of applicants to Boston College’s class of 2025 were accepted. Only over 7,600 of the almost 40,000 applicants were chosen by Boston College’s admissions committee.

But for that same incoming class, 39% of applicants who used the Boston College Early Decision option were accepted. In actuality, more than 3,000 applicants—nearly half of Boston College’s entire enrollment—used Boston College Early Decision I or II.

The typical SAT scores at Boston College are between 1460 and 1540, and the typical ACT score is between 33 and 35. Tests are not required for admission to Boston College, though. Therefore, if your SAT and ACT scores for Boston College fall below these norms, you may decide not to submit them.

So, how to get into Boston College? Admission to BC will need more than just attaining the required SAT or GPA averages for Boston College. You should start preparing early in your high school career to increase your chances of being admitted to Boston College.

Aim for high GPAs, SAT and ACT scores, demonstrate leadership and involvement, and start composing your Boston College supplemental essays well in advance of the admissions deadline.

When you’re in high school, push yourself. Take the most challenging classes that you can pass in. As you pursue additional extracurricular activities like service, career, and athletics, be sure you can balance them with them. Your capacity to stand out to Boston College admissions committees will be largely influenced by your academic performance. Afterward, you can go past Boston College’s low admittance rate.

You should also take into consideration if you want to apply for Boston College Regular Decision or Early Decision. This will affect your GPA plan as well. Before the Early Decision deadline, applicants should confirm that their grades and SAT scores correspond to the predicted average Boston College GPA and average Boston College ACT scores.

What is required for the Boston College application?

You must include a solid and well-researched application. Checking the boxes here is not all that this entails. Before the Boston College application deadline, you should plan out and finish each component of your application, if you would like, you could consider your pick among the Boston College majors in advance.

Boston College’s standard decision admissions deadline is January 1st, while the deadlines for early decision admissions are November 1st and January 1st.

The admissions staff at Boston College requires the following:

• A completed Common Application
• The supplemental essays from Boston College
• Optional for the cycle of 2021–2022, Boston College SAT or ACT scores
• Two teacher references
• A high school transcript
• A secondary school report and counselor referral form
• An interim report (after your first semester grades)
• Application fees or waivers of application fees
• Portfolios of artistic work (optional for students who intend to major in Studio Art)
• Results of the TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Tests (international applicants only)

Which extracurriculars are popular at Boston College?

Your candidate profile, which is a 1-2 phrase summary of who you are and what you do, must include information on your extracurricular activities. What makes you distinctive is your candidate profile. Therefore, there is no right or incorrect activity as long as you put in the effort and demonstrate your interest. Avoid attempting to impress Boston College admissions officers by compiling the extracurricular resume of the “average” applicant. Be your distinct and genuine self instead.

Let your enthusiasm for a subject of study, a sport, or a pastime show in your application if you are genuinely passionate about it. Write about your range of interests and how you spend your time in your Boston College supplemental essays. Authenticity will increase your chances of success despite the low acceptance rate at Boston College.

How to write a supplemental essay for Boston College?

Your application must include the Boston College supplemental essays that are required by the admissions committee. Therefore, writing the supplemental essays for Boston College is an important factor in your application.

Students had a choice of five alternative subjects for the Boston College additional essays for the cycle of applications for 2021–22. Pick a prompt for your application that enables you to be creative and share your true story.

Yes, your SAT and GPA from Boston College are important, but so are the other aspects of your application. The supplemental essays are one of the rare chances you’ll get to create something from scratch. Therefore, utilize your essay to provide a thorough description of who you are and what makes you unique.

More Pieces of Advice about applying to Boston College

Be genuine.

The best applications are those that are genuine. If you want to know if Boston is the right place for you, watch the admissions films from Boston College or speak with a current Eagle. Next, concentrate your admissions strategy on the particular activities, courses, instructors, and groups you would participate in as a student. Draw a clear picture of how you might benefit the enrollment for the admissions committee.

Apply early.

Make your admission plan as soon as possible. You should show that you are committed to your community in addition to having a great academic record if you want to enroll at Boston College. Start participating in extracurricular activities in high school and look for opportunities to lead and develop.

Plan ahead.

Preparing early for the admissions deadline is a crucial component of your application. Make a plan to beat the average Boston College SAT score and earn a high GPA. Additionally, begin drafting your Boston College supplemental essays months before you submit your application, especially if you’re submitting an early decision.

If you’re still unsure about how to start your college application at an earlier time, AdmissionSight is available to help. We have an extensive experience in college admissions thus, we can assist you in choosing from the Boston College majors or complying with BC application requirements. Feel free to contact AdmissionSight and set up an initial consultation.