<p>[Boston</a> College - Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/admission/undergrad/process/essays.html]Boston”>http://www.bc.edu/content/bc/admission/undergrad/process/essays.html)</p>
<p>Interesting. I’m all in for supplemental essays, but I would imagine that this may lower the total applicant numbers for next year. Opinions?</p>
<p>Oh wow I didn’t even notice the new supplemental portion, thanks! I think it may decrease the ammount of apps slightly, but some of the questions seem like supplemental questions a lot of universities ask, just with a BC spin? Like the question about something that impacted your life</p>
<p>Edit: Sorry did you mean number of people admitted, or people submitting applications?</p>
<p>the only reason I applied to BC was because it did not have an essay and it took me 2 minutes to apply. I ended up enrolling at BC and had they had an essay I would have ended up going to Michigan LSA instead of BC CSOM.</p>
<p>Dear askjeeves and all Boston College Board Readers : As an advocate of a common application essay that answers the question “Why BC?”, I loudly applaud the decision to allow applicants to express themselves in a second essay.</p>
<p>The four essay topics chosen this year focus on service (topics 1, 4) and the learning process (topics 2, 3) in the Jesuit tradition. These topics effectively help to lay out a blueprint for some applicants in answering the “Why BC?” question. Remember, Boston College knows that it has many wonderful gifts to offer the student body; the question to answer is how your attendance will improve the campus and the student body as a whole.</p>
<p>It’s impossible to know how many applicants applied to BC only because of the lack of essay. Furthermore you can’t assume that all the non-essay applicants are going to go away. Some/many will groan and complain but then write the essay anyway. Prepurm’s experience aside, I’d think having fewer “lazy” applicants will drive the quality of committed students applying upwards, more than off-setting the likely trivial reduction in the total size of the applicant pool.</p>
<p>A drop in apps is not necessarily a bad thing, if it helps adcoms pick and choose a class better, which then results in a higher yield. It will also help to eliminate students/parents like RisingChemist who do not align with the Jesuit philosophy:</p>
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<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/1363302-what-do-you-love-hate-about-bc.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/boston-college/1363302-what-do-you-love-hate-about-bc.html</a></p>
<p>blueb,</p>
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<p>True. But it will only make them easier to weed out. I have to believe that a number of that crowd is still going to apply.</p>
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<p>That was my (unclear) point. :)</p>
<p>But it is win-win. No use accepting students with such an attitude since they probably won’t be happy at BC if they attended.</p>
<p>My son, who is BC '16, on learning of the new supplemental essay told me he would have been more pleased with his application if he had had this opportunity to distinguish himself beyond the Common App. He obviously got in, but I do recall his concern last fall with the generic nature of the Common App and his distinct surprise at no supplemental essay or short answers for BC when all the other Jesuit universities and every other university to which he applied did have supplemental requirements. One of LMU’s admissions people told me they intentionally have challenging essay questions so as to weed out students not aligned with the mission and to gauge the seriousness of student interest. I think it is an important consideration for anyone applying to BC: to be clear that it is a Jesuit university and this comes with implications. (Good ones, I believe!)</p>