This article was originally reported in October 2025.
In October 2025, Boston College (BC) checked in with the first graduates of its Human-Centered Engineering program, a bachelor’s degree that pairs engineering with BC’s liberal arts core. The program launched in 2021, and its first class of 26 students graduated in May 2025 (BC News, October 2025).
Where the first class went
According to BC, many of the graduates took engineering jobs at companies working on water supply, public works, health, the environment and construction. Others went on to graduate programs in medicine, finance, biomedical engineering, nuclear science and engineering, and educational design technology, and some are making documentary films or working with people experiencing homelessness. Examples from the article:
- Nava Bozorgmehri is a product development engineer at Applied Medical, designing surgical devices.
- Will Purnell began graduate study in biomedical engineering at Duke University in fall 2025.
- Charles Neill is a design engineer at Acorn Engineering.
Glenn Gaudette, the John W. Kozarich ’71 Chair of the Engineering Department, said most graduates are pursuing careers tied to the program’s focus areas of health, energy and the environment.
How the degree is built
The Bachelor of Science in Engineering requires 120 credits: about two-thirds in engineering, mathematics and science, and one-third in the liberal arts and humanities through BC’s core curriculum. Courses include Introduction to Human-Centered Engineering, Engineering for Society, Introduction to Statistical Data Analysis and Machine Learning, and a Collaborative Service Engineering Project. Jenna Tonn, director of undergraduate studies, said students and faculty have refined the curriculum together since the program began (BC News).
Latest update: ABET accreditation
In September 2026, BC announced that the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET had accredited the bachelor’s program in Human-Centered Engineering, retroactive to 2024. “Our students knew coming in that as they were going through the program, they were building it,” Gaudette said (BC News, September 2026).
Notes for international students
- Who it suits: students who want an accredited engineering degree with a strong humanities component, working on health, energy, environment or social problems, rather than a deep specialization in one traditional branch of engineering.
- Admission: according to IPEDS, BC received 35,037 first-year applications for fall 2025 and admitted about 16%. Of 15,432 students that fall, 1,628 were international (662 undergraduates).
- Cost and aid: IPEDS lists 2025–26 tuition and fees of $70,702, plus about $18,916 for room and board. BC’s financial aid office states that it cannot offer need-based aid to students who are not U.S. citizens or eligible non-citizens, so international undergraduates should plan to pay the full cost (Boston College Financial Aid).
- Work after graduation: engineering degrees are generally on the DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List, which allows eligible F-1 graduates to add a 24-month STEM OPT extension to 12 months of OPT. Confirm the CIP code on your I-20 against the DHS STEM list.
- Ranking: Boston College is No. 31 among national universities in the 2027 U.S. News ranking (Forward Pathway, U.S. college rankings). See our Boston College profile for more data.
References
- Engineering their futures: Catching up with members of the Human-Centered Engineering program’s first graduating class (BC News, October 2025)
- Human-Centered Engineering program earns accreditation (BC News, September 2026)
- Boston College Financial Aid
- DHS STEM Designated Degree Program List
- Forward Pathway: Boston College