What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$4,284 to $60,308 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $89,493 a year. Average need-based aid package: $61,753.Aid and debt
33.9%
receive need-based grants
$24,892
average debt at graduation
202
students got merit aid
about 2% of undergraduates
$26,364
average merit award
Getting In
Admit rates
16.2%
admitted overall
33.4%
admitted Early Decision
13.8%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at nearly 2x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1460–1520 · 30% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 33–35 · 15% of the class submitted
90% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Important
- Class rank
- SAT/ACT scores
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- Character
- Volunteer work
- Considered
- First-gen status
- Legacy status
- Where you're from
- Work experience
- Not considered
- In-state residency
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
BC rates course rigor as Very Important, and your essay, your recommendations, and your activities as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Recommendations matter here too — a recommender who knows you well helps. And depth and leadership in a few activities matter more than a long list.
BC doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section C7 (admissions factors)
BC just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-BC essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
48.5% of BC classes have fewer than 20 students.
48.5%
under 20 students
45.6%
20 to 49
5.9%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. BC CDS 2024–25, I-3.
10:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
71.3%
first-years from out of state
80%
live on campus
Who attends
- White57.6%
- Hispanic12.5%
- Asian11.4%
- Multiracial5.2%
- Black5%
- Unknown / other1.6%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. BC CDS 2024–25, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
86.4% of BC students graduate in 4 years.
86.4%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2018
91%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2018
96%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
88% finish in 6 years, against 91% of all students.
A 3-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
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.
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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.
The City
Major city
Chestnut Hill, MA
Best For
Notable alumni
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.
Traditions
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 from Chestnut Hill
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 and game days
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
Internships and jobs nearby
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
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.