At a Glance
BU admits 12.8% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Debt at Graduation
41.5%
receive need-based grant aid
$36,774
average debt at graduation
BU graduates carry an average of $36,774 in debt.
Merit Aid
677
students received merit aid
$35,604
average merit award
Getting In
BU admits 12.8% of applicants.
Boston University's Early Decision applicants are admitted at nearly 3x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 31.3% vs 11%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 36% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 10% of the class submitted
86% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Boston University considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Considered — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
57.7% of BU classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At BU, 57.7% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
10:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
62%
Live on campus
57%
Women in sororities
11%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
BU's student body is 29.7% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
BU graduates 81.6% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
BU graduates 81.6% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
BU
81.6%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $86,285
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
90%
Overall 6-yr rate
92%
Pell recipient rate
Lower-income students graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers — a sign of strong institutional support.
Freshman Retention
94.2%
94.2% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Boston.
Boston University's Charles River Campus runs for about a mile and a half along Commonwealth Avenue, from Kenmore Square — steps from Fenway Park — to the BU Bridge, on the Green Line B branch. There's no quad and no gate: the campus is the street, with the Charles River on one side and Boston's Back Bay and Allston on the other, so students treat the rest of the city as an extension of campus rather than a place to escape to on weekends.
Notable Alumni
Martin Luther King Jr.
Earned a PhD in systematic theology from BU's School of Theology in 1955; his papers are held at the university's Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center.
Class of 1955
Howard Stern
Radio and television host of The Howard Stern Show, who graduated from the College of Communication in 1976 and got his start at the campus radio station, WTBU.
Class of 1976
Geena Davis
Academy Award-winning actress and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, who studied acting at BU's College of Fine Arts in the late 1970s.
Allen Questrom
Retired CEO of J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus and Federated Department Stores (now Macy's); his $50 million gift to BU, the largest in university history, led to the business school being renamed in his honor.
Class of 1964
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
Boston, MA
Best For
Traditions
The Beanpot
A four-team hockey tournament played every February at TD Garden between BU, Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern, running since the 1950s. BU is the most successful program in the tournament's history, and the Dog Pound student section at Agganis Arena is one of the loudest in college hockey.
The BU Rock
A boulder near the George Sherman Union that student groups repaint — sometimes more than once in a night — to advertise events, causes and campaigns; it's said to carry over a thousand layers of paint.
Lobster Night
Since 1985, BU's dining halls have served every student a full steamed lobster once a semester — an unusual splurge for a campus dining program, and one students plan their meal swipes around.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Boston
Cape Cod
1 hour 30 minutesThe standard Boston-area summer escape, reachable by bus from South Station without needing a car.
The White Mountains, New Hampshire
2 hours 30 minutesThe closest real mountains to campus — a single day trip for hiking in the fall or skiing in the winter.
New York City
4 hoursFrequent buses and Amtrak trains run from South Station, a short subway ride from campus.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Boston Logan International (BOS)
20 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Boston Red Sox MLB
- Boston Celtics NBA
- Boston Bruins NHL
- New England Patriots NFL
Career Proximity
BU sits inside Boston's own job market rather than beside it — the city's finance, health care and biotech clusters are a subway ride away, and the university's own teaching hospital, Boston Medical Center, sits down Commonwealth Avenue from campus.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- State Street
- Fidelity Investments
- Mass General Brigham
- Boston Medical Center
- Wayfair
- EY
Downtown Boston / Back Bay, 15 minutes by subway
Who Thrives Here
Boston University's Charles River Campus is Commonwealth Avenue itself — a mile and a half of city street from Kenmore Square, steps from Fenway Park, to the BU Bridge, on the Green Line B branch, with no quad and no gate. It draws a genuinely global class: 20.7% of undergraduates are international. Greek life is a minority pursuit — 11% of women join sororities, and BU didn't report a men's fraternity share this year — so the social center of gravity runs through the dorms (57% of undergraduates live on campus) and the Beanpot, BU's storied February hockey tournament against Boston College, Harvard and Northeastern. Academically it runs at a 10:1 student-to-faculty ratio with 57.7% of classes under 20 students, and 94.2% of freshmen return for a second year. The admissions math rewards commitment: early decision admits at 31.3% against 11.0% for regular decision. BU meets 98% of demonstrated need on average with a $70,629 aid package, but students who borrow graduate with $36,774 in average debt, and only 81.6% finish in four years against 90.0% within six — worth pricing in a possible fifth year and the debt that can come with it.