How selective are Brandeis University and Boston College admissions for high school applicants?

Both Brandeis University and Boston College are selective for high school applicants, but Boston College is typically the tougher admit of the two. For college list planning, many students would place Brandeis in the selective category and Boston College a step more selective.

Boston College tends to appeal to students targeting a more traditional campus experience with strong school spirit, Division I athletics, and a well-known undergraduate business program through Carroll. It also gets a lot of interest from applicants who want a Jesuit university with strong academics near Boston. Even applicants with excellent grades, rigorous coursework, and solid activities are not assured admission there.

Brandeis is a strong option for students drawn to a smaller, more intellectual campus culture with a big emphasis on research, discussion-based academics, and social justice. It is selective enough that strong numbers alone do not make it a safety, but it is often a more realistic target than BC for students with a solid academic record.

If you are building a balanced list, it often makes sense to treat Boston College as more of a reach and Brandeis as somewhere between a target and a reach depending on your transcript, course rigor, and overall profile. The difference is not that one is easy and the other is hard. It is that BC is usually the more competitive admit in a direct comparison.