What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$9,342 to $47,504 a year, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $86,285 a year. Average need-based aid package: $69,396.Aid and debt
41.5%
receive need-based grants
$36,774
average debt at graduation
677
students got merit aid
about 4% of undergraduates
$35,604
average merit award
Getting In
Admit rates
12.8%
admitted overall
31.3%
admitted Early Decision
11%
admitted Regular Decision
Early Decision
Early Decision applicants were admitted at nearly 3x the Regular Decision rate, and Early Decision is binding: you commit to attend if admitted.
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Some of that gap reflects who applies early (recruited athletes, legacy applicants and highly committed students concentrate in that pool), so it isn't proof that applying early would raise any one student's own odds.
Key dates
Transfer Deadlines
Test scores
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1420–1510 · 36% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 33–34 · 10% of the class submitted
86% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Important
- Class rank
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Character
- Considered
- SAT/ACT scores
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- In-state residency
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Demonstrated interest
- Not considered
- Special talent
- Legacy status
What this means for you
BU rates course rigor as Very Important, and your essay, your recommendations, and your activities as Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong. A strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Recommendations matter here too — a recommender who knows you well helps. And depth and leadership in a few activities matter more than a long list.
BU rates demonstrated interest 'Considered' — it can tip a close decision, without being decisive.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
BU just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-BU essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
57.7% of BU classes have fewer than 20 students.
57.7%
under 20 students
27.8%
20 to 49
14.5%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. BU CDS 2025–26, I-3.
10:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
62%
first-years from out of state
57%
live on campus
11%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White29.7%
- Asian20.7%
- Hispanic11.9%
- Unknown / other6.8%
- Black5.6%
- Multiracial5.1%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. BU CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
81.6% of BU students graduate in 4 years.
81.6%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
90%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
94.2%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
92% finish in 6 years, against 90% of all students.
Pell Grant students finish at about the same rate as everyone else.
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.
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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.
The City
Major city
Boston, MA
Best For
Notable alumni
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.
Traditions
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 from Boston
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 and game days
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
Internships and jobs nearby
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
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 92% of demonstrated need on average with a $69,396 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.