The name "Boston College" does not adequately describe all that university has to offer. Boston College was founded by the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) in 1863 as a small college designed to serve the sons of Boston's Irish immigrants. While the campus was originally located in Boston's South End corner, the College outgrew its urban setting near the turn of the century and broke ground on a new campus in then-rural Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
Since that time, Boston College has seen great change. The 1920s marked the inauguration of the Summer Session, the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, the Law School, and the Evening College. The 1930s saw the introduction of the Graduate School of Social Work and the College of Business Administration (now known as the Carroll School of Management). During the 1940's, new purchases doubled the size of the main campus. The Schools of Nursing (now the Connell School of Nursing) and Education (now the Lynch School of Education) followed in 1947 and 1952 respectively. The Graduate School of Arts & Sciences first offered doctoral programs in 1952, followed by the graduate schools of Education, Nursing, Management, and Social Work.
Today, Boston College is an international university with 11 schools and colleges, and a multitude of institutes, and serves the sons and daughters of all 50 US states, and 94 nations around the world. Boston College is considered a "medium-sized" university by US standards with 9,000 undergraduate and 4,500 graduate students. Through more than 14 decades of growth and change, the University has held fast to the ideals that inspired its founders: that education should be a transforming experience, challenging students to engage themselves - to become good citizens of the world by putting knowledge into action.