Jesuit College Essay Prompts 2026-27

Jesuit College Essay Prompts 2026-27

Of the seven Jesuit colleges whose writing requirements we could read on their own sites, two require supplements with Jesuit mission language in at least one prompt: Boston College (one essay chosen from four, 400 words) and Georgetown (four essays, including a 500-word school essay). Fordham and Santa Clara offer optional prompts. Loyola Chicago, Marquette and Loyola Marymount publish no required school-specific prompt. None of the published prompts asks about your faith.

Our view: Jesuit prompts ask about reflection, conversation and service, not belief. A non-Catholic applicant answers best by taking the named value ("be attentive", the "Common Good", an "integrated education") and showing a practice of their own that already does it. Performing faith you do not hold is the one move that always reads false.

Every college page below was checked on October 30, 2026. Several pages print no cycle year, and a few prompts appear only inside an application or portal. We say which, and you should recheck each page before you submit.

On this page: which colleges are Jesuit · the prompts · what the mission words mean · not Catholic, or not religious · writing about your own faith · deadlines and AI notes · questions

Which colleges are Jesuit

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities' Jesuit Educated site lists "28 Jesuit Colleges and Universities" in the United States, including Boston College, Georgetown, Fordham, Santa Clara, Loyola Chicago, Loyola Marymount, Marquette, Gonzaga, Creighton, Saint Louis University and the College of the Holy Cross.

Notre Dame is not on that list. It is a Catholic university, but not a Jesuit one, so its prompts are not covered here. See our Notre Dame supplemental essays guide instead.

The 2026-27 prompts at Jesuit colleges we could verify

Fordham's and Santa Clara's optional prompts are the interest-optional kind. To decide whether to write them, see optional supplemental essays: write them or not?

Not in the table: Creighton's first-year admission page returned "page not found" to us, Gonzaga's admission pages showed no writing requirements, and Holy Cross's admission page did not load its content. We did not guess their prompts. Check them inside the Common App.

Boston College

BC asks you to "respond to one of the first four prompts below (400 word limit)". Prompts 4 and 5 use Jesuit mission language, and Prompt 2 quotes the late BC theology professor Father Michael Himes. Prompt 4 in full:

"Boston College's Jesuit mission highlights 'the three Be's': be attentive, be reflective, be loving – core 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?"

Prompt 2 quotes Himes, who argued that a university is a "rigorous and sustained conversation about the great questions of human existence, among the widest possible circle of the best possible conversation partners." Prompt 5, for Human-Centered Engineering only, opens: "One goal of a Jesuit education is to prepare students to serve the Common Good."

BC has its own guide: Boston College supplemental essay 2026-27 covers all five prompts, how to choose and a constructed example. This page does not repeat it.

Georgetown

Georgetown's College of Arts & Sciences prompt (500 words):

"Founded in 1789, the Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences is committed to the Jesuit traditions of an integrated education and of productive research in the natural sciences, humanities, social sciences, and fine arts. Describe your interest in studying in the College of Arts & Sciences."

The other schools' Essay 2 prompts (Walsh, McDonough, Nursing, Health, McCourt, Earth Commons) do not use the word "Jesuit". Short Essay 2 asks you to describe an event with "people who hold different viewpoints than our own". For Essay 1, Georgetown says: "If you believe that your Common App personal statement would fit with this prompt, you are welcome to use it here." Georgetown takes either "the Georgetown Application or the Common Application". The full set is in our Georgetown supplemental essays guide.

What the mission words mean on the page

Each mission phrase names a behavior. Your essay should show the behavior, not repeat the phrase.

The countercase: not every Jesuit prompt wants mission language at all. BC's traditions and "single story" prompts, and all of Georgetown's non-A&S essays, are ordinary supplement questions. Bringing Jesuit vocabulary into them makes the essay sound like it was written for a different prompt.

Not Catholic, or not religious

Read the published prompts above again. None asks whether you are Catholic, religious or a believer. They ask what you notice, who you talk with, what you serve and how you learn. Answer those questions in your own terms.

Three rules for non-Catholic applicants:

1. Engage, do not convert. You can admire a Jesuit idea without claiming it as your faith. "I had not heard 'be attentive' as a value before; it describes what I do at my grandmother's shop" is honest. "My faith in God guides my attentiveness" is not, if it is not yours.
2. No faith claims you would not repeat in an interview. If a sentence would embarrass you in front of an admissions reader who asked a follow-up, cut it.
3. Translate the phrase into a practice. Use the table above. The practice is the evidence; the phrase is only the prompt.

Constructed example: a Georgetown College of Arts & Sciences opening

Constructed example, written by us, not a real applicant statement. Context (invented): an applicant with no religious practice, interested in linguistics, answering the A&S prompt.

Weak version (61 words):

As a student who deeply values the Jesuit ideals of cura personalis and service to others, I am drawn to Georgetown's mission. Although I am not Catholic, I share the Jesuit belief in educating the whole person. I believe an integrated education will help me become a better person and a leader who can make a positive difference in the world.

Revised version (113 words):

My grandfather's letters from Lahore are in Urdu, and I read Urdu slowly. Last year I started transcribing them into a spreadsheet so I could search them, and found I needed three skills at once: the language, a little Python to sort the words, and enough history to know why he wrote "the new border" in 1948 and never named it again.

That is the closest thing I know to what Georgetown calls "an integrated education". I did not plan to connect linguistics, code and history. The letters made me. In the College of Arts & Sciences I want to study linguistics with the computing and history courses beside it, not after it.

Why the revision works: the weak version borrows Jesuit vocabulary ("cura personalis") the prompt never used and makes a faith comparison nobody asked for. The revised version quotes the prompt's own phrase once, then proves it with a practice the applicant already has. The next paragraph, not shown, would name the specific courses and programs the applicant found on Georgetown's site. Every detail is invented for this guide.

Writing about your own faith

If you are Catholic, or religious in another tradition, you can write about it in these prompts. The same test applies: show a practice and a decision, not a creed. A service trip or a youth-group role is evidence when you say what you did and what it changed. A paragraph that explains doctrine is not.

The full method for faith as an essay topic is in writing about religion in your college essay.

Deadlines and AI notes

On October 30, 2026, Boston College's and Fordham's November 1 deadlines were two days away. Georgetown's dates are in our Georgetown guide.

Two of these colleges publish a rule on AI and outside help. Boston College's "Note on Use of Artificial Intelligence", in full:

"Personal statements, supplemental essays, and free responses provide students with a valuable opportunity to have an authentic voice in the college admission process. While students may turn to a variety of resources such as parents/guardians, English teachers, and school counselors in order to generate ideas, the content must be their own. Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT may also serve as a resource, but must only be used as a guide; content must never be directly copied from AI or other sources. The submission of original content not only adheres to the ethical expectations in applying to college, but benefits the applicant by having their authentic personal story valued by the Admission Committee."

Fordham's essay guidance:

"Our expectation is that your writing will be your original work in your own words. Make sure that any tools or help you receive are in service to your unique voice, not in place of it. A good rule of thumb is—if the words are not yours, revise the revision!"

Fordham also links a separate AI Policy for Application Writing. Its three headings, verbatim: "Your application writing is our best way to get to know you—the real you." "You can use AI as a tool—but proceed with caution." "Your application is a promise that who you present to us is who will show up on our campuses." Under the second, it says: "Using AI in its proper place, such as brainstorming ideas or polishing a draft, ensures that your work remains original."

If a college publishes no AI rule, the certification inside the application is what you sign, so read it there. Our policy pages for Boston College, Georgetown and Fordham track each school's statements.

Questions about Jesuit college essays

Do Jesuit colleges ask you to write about religion?

Not in the prompts we could read. Boston College's and Georgetown's prompts name Jesuit values or traditions, and none of them asks about your faith.

Can I write about being atheist or another religion at a Jesuit college?

Nothing in the published prompts limits your topic to Catholic experience. Write about your own practice and decisions, and do not borrow faith language you do not use.

Is Notre Dame a Jesuit school?

No. Notre Dame is not on the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities' list of 28 Jesuit colleges and universities.

Does Boston College have a why-BC essay?

No. BC asks for one essay chosen from four prompts (or Prompt 5 for Human-Centered Engineering), 400 words. None asks why you want BC. BC's Himes prompt hands you a quote; our guide to answering a prompt that supplies a quote shows how to use one sentence on it and move on.

For service prompts at Jesuit colleges, the community service essay guide shows how to avoid the savior story.

Villanova is Augustinian, not Jesuit, but its 2026-27 set adds a Pope Leo XIV prompt; see the Villanova supplemental essays guide.

Get a free review of your supplemental essay

Get a free Quick Review of your supplemental essay against GradPilot's why-us rubric, for school essays like Georgetown's College of Arts & Sciences prompt and Santa Clara's "How can an SCU education help" question. It reads whether you describe what the college offers by what it lets you do, and tie it to something already true of you. For Boston College's one-of-four prompts, use the personal short-answer rubric, or the community rubric for the traditions prompt. Paste the prompt and its limit above your draft.

More school guides are in the Common App and college essays hub. For the school half of any Jesuit school essay, see why us essay examples, annotated.

Sources

Retrieved October 30, 2026, except where noted.

• Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, Jesuit Educated (no year): "28 Jesuit Colleges and Universities" and member names. AJCU's own site (ajcunet.edu) showed a security challenge, which we did not bypass.
• Boston College, Apply ("Supplemental Questions 2026-27"): prompts, 400-word limit, AI note, deadlines.
• Georgetown University, Application Requirements and Forms (no year printed): Writing Supplement prompts and limits, application options.
• Fordham University, Writing for the Common Application and How to Apply (deadline table dated 2026–2027; read through a reader service because the page redirect-loops for curl): optional short response, essay guidance, deadlines.
• Fordham University, AI Policy for Application Writing (no year printed; retrieved by the independent reviewer): the three policy headings and the brainstorming/polishing sentence.
• Santa Clara University, First-Year Students (no year printed): optional essay and mission wording.
• Loyola University Chicago, First-Year Students (no year printed): optional essay, priority deadline.
• Marquette University, First-Year Application (no year printed): required essay, no supplement listed, deadlines.
• Loyola Marymount University, First-Year Applicants (no year printed): "Writing ability" factor; no prompt on page.
• Common App, 2026-27 first-year requirements grid (updated September 25, 2026): Boston College deadline years.
• Not retrieved: Creighton's first-year admission page ("page not found"), Gonzaga's admission pages (no writing requirements shown), College of the Holy Cross admission page (no content returned). No prompt from these colleges is stated on this page.