Boston College (also referred to as BC) is a private Jesuit Catholic research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, United States, west of downtown Boston.

It has 9,100 full-time undergraduates and almost 5,000 graduate students.

The university's name reflects its early history as a liberal arts college and preparatory school (now Boston College High School) in Boston's South End.

It is a member of the 568 Group and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities.

Its main campus is a historic district and features some of the earliest examples of collegiate gothic architecture in North America.

The liberal arts (Latin: artes liberales) are those subjects or skills that in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free person (Latin: liberalis, "worthy of a free person") to know in order to take an active part in civic life, something that (for Ancient Greece) included participating in public debate, defending oneself in court, serving on juries, and most importantly, military service.

Grammar, logic, and rhetoric were the core liberal arts, while arithmetic, geometry, the theory of music, and astronomy also played a (somewhat lesser) part in education.

Higher education, post-secondary education, or third level education is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completion of secondary education.

Often delivered at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, conservatories, and institutes of technology, higher education is also available through certain college-level institutions, including vocational schools, trade schools, and other career colleges that award academic degrees or professional certifications.

Tertiary education at non-degree level is sometimes referred to as further education or continuing education as distinct from higher education.

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.

A university ("a whole", "a corporation") is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which grants academic degrees in various academic disciplines.

Universities typically provide undergraduate education and postgraduate education.