At a Glance
BC admits 16.2% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Debt at Graduation
33.9%
receive need-based grant aid
$24,892
average debt at graduation
BC graduates carry an average of $24,892 in debt.
Merit Aid
202
students received merit aid
$26,364
average merit award
Getting In
BC admits 16.2% of applicants.
Boston College's Early Decision applicants are admitted at nearly 2x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 33.4% vs 13.8%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 30% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 15% of the class submitted
90% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Boston College considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
48.5% of BC classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At BC, 48.5% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
10:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
71.3%
Live on campus
80%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
BC's student body is 57.6% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
BC graduates 86.4% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
BC graduates 86.4% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
BC
86.4%
4-yr grad rate
Most finish on time
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
91%
Overall 6-yr rate
88%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 3 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
96%
96% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Chestnut Hill.
Boston College sits on a hill in Chestnut Hill, six miles from downtown Boston, and the MBTA Green Line's B Branch ends right at the campus gate on Commonwealth Avenue — so the city is a roughly 30-minute trolley ride away with no car needed, even though the campus itself feels like a self-contained, hilltop quad rather than an urban one. The trade-off is the reverse of a campus embedded in a city: Boston College is a residential, suburban campus first, with the city as something students commute into for internships, sports and nightlife rather than something surrounding them daily.
Notable Alumni
Peter Lynch
Legendary Fidelity Investments stock picker who ran the Magellan Fund to a roughly 29% average annual return from 1977 to 1990. He earned a finance degree here in 1965, arriving on a caddy scholarship, before going on to Wharton for his MBA.
Class of 1965
Doug Flutie
Won the 1984 Heisman Trophy as BC's quarterback, capped by the last-second "Hail Flutie" pass against Miami, and went on to a 21-year professional career in the CFL and NFL. He graduated with degrees in computer science and speech communication.
Class of 1985
Amy Poehler
Saturday Night Live cast member and co-creator and star of Parks and Recreation. She graduated with a degree in media and communications and performed with the student improv troupe My Mother's Fleabag.
Class of 1993
Tip O'Neill
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1987, one of the longest-serving speakers in American history. He graduated in 1936 and was elected to the Massachusetts House that same November, the first of 25 consecutive elections over 50 years in office.
Class of 1936
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Chestnut Hill, MA
Best For
Traditions
The Mods
Thirty-eight two-story townhouse-style units built in 1970 as temporary housing that never left — the most sought-after on-campus address for seniors, awarded by lottery to a fraction of the class. Modstock, an outdoor concert held there each spring, is one of the senior class's defining events.
Marathon Monday at Mile 21
The Boston Marathon course runs directly along Commonwealth Avenue past Boston College at Mile 21, just after the top of Heartbreak Hill. Students turn out along the route every year to cheer runners through the race's hardest climb, making the corner outside campus one of the loudest, most recognizable spots on the course.
The Beanpot
The annual Boston college hockey tournament at TD Garden each February, contested between Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern and Harvard. BC has won the tournament more times than any other of the four schools.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Chestnut Hill
Cape Cod
1 hour 30 minutesThe standard Boston-area summer and early-autumn escape, reachable by bus from South Station without a car.
The White Mountains, New Hampshire
2 hours 30 minutesHiking and skiing within a day trip; the closest real mountains to campus.
Newport, Rhode Island
1 hour 15 minutesGilded Age mansions and the Cliff Walk, a short enough drive to fit into a single day.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Boston Logan International (BOS)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Boston Red Sox MLB
- Boston Celtics NBA
- Boston Bruins NHL
- New England Patriots NFL
Career Proximity
96% of the Class of 2024 were employed, in graduate school, or in a fellowship or volunteer role within six months of graduation, and 75% went straight into the workforce — led by financial services, which alone accounted for 35% of that cohort. Boston's asset-management, consulting and health care employers recruit heavily on campus, helped by the Carroll School of Management's reputation and the T ride into the Financial District.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Fidelity Investments
- State Street
- EY
- Deloitte
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Downtown Boston — about 30 minutes by MBTA Green Line from the Boston College stop at the campus gate
Who Thrives Here
Boston College admits 16.2% of applicants overall, but 33.4% through early decision against 13.8% regular decision, so the binding plan is a real lever for anyone confident BC is the right fit. Ninety-six percent of first-years return for sophomore year, 86.4% finish in four years, and 91.0% within six. The Carroll School of Management dominates the major mix — business and marketing account for 29.0% of degrees conferred, more than any other field. Eighty percent of undergraduates live in college-owned housing, and the centerpiece of that system is "the Mods," the two-story townhouses a lottery-selected slice of the senior class gets to live in; Boston College fields zero recognized fraternities or sororities, so students build their social life around residence halls, the Mods and campus clubs rather than Greek houses. Every spring the campus becomes a Boston Marathon landmark: the course runs directly along Commonwealth Avenue past campus, right past Heartbreak Hill, and students line the fence to cheer runners through the race's hardest climb. The cost is the trade-off. Tuition and fees run $73,508, and Boston College meets 100% of demonstrated need for the families it aids — but only 33.9% of undergraduates are awarded any need-based aid at all, so a majority of the roughly 9,654 undergraduates pay close to full price. Average debt at graduation among those who do borrow is $24,892.