Boston University, a leading global research institution, is located on a 175 acre urban campus in the heart of Boston close to many of the historical city’s famous attractions.

Boston University was founded in 1839, and it is the 4th largest private university in the country today with 32,500 undergraduate and graduate students.

Of the 18,229 undergraduates at Boston University, 38% of them identify as students of color and 22% are international students. They come from all 50 states and more than 118 countries.

As of October 2021, Boston University’s endowment stood at $3.35 billion due largely to substantial stock market gains. Boston University’s growing endowment has enabled it to increase undergraduate financial aid from $191 million in 2011 to more than $382 million by 2021 enabling big improvements in bringing diversity to the campus.

Distinguished alumni from Boston University represent leaders in many fields including business, finance, consulting, sports, politics and government, tech, non-profits, law, military, scientific research, education, and writing and journalism. Famous alumni include Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Bob Hines, Julianne Moore, Brian Bedol, Karen Lynch and Paul Beatty.

Costs of attending Boston University 2022-2023

Tuition costs - $61,050

Fees - $1,310

Room and meal plan - $17,400

Health insurance - $3,236 to $4,323

Books and supplies - $1,000

Incidentals - $2,000

Total cost of attendance - $85,996 to $87,083

Access Boston University’s Net Price Calculator

Boston University Statistics at a Glance

Data from Boston University website and Common Data Sets.

Sports at Boston University

Boston University belongs in NCAA Division 1, and the NCAA rules and calendar for athlete recruitment apply to athletes interested in being athlete recruited to Boston University.

Boston University, a private research university with an undergraduate enrollment of 18,229 students, plays a total of 21 NCAA sports, 9 of them for men and 12 for women. In the 2021/2022 season, Boston University had a total of 574 NCAA athletes comprising 3% of the total student body.

See:

What NCAA sports does Boston University play?

Boston University’s athlete recruitment policies

What you can expect from Boston University

Boston University describes itself an an international, comprehensive, private research university that is committed to educating its students to be reflective, resourceful individuals ready to live, adapt, and lead in an interconnected world.

It strongly adheres to its founding principles that higher education should be accessible to all, and that research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice should be conducted in the service of the wider community, both local and international.

Boston University values diversity, excellence and its dynamic engagement with the city of Boston and the world.

Is Boston University hard to get into?

With a 30% surge in applications received since it went test optional, Boston University’s acceptance rates have dropped to 14% for the class of 2026 from 18% the prior year.

Despite the drop in acceptance rates, only 45% of admitted students submitted test scores. Of those who submitted test scores, the middle 50% range for the SAT was 1390-1490 and for the ACT was 31-34. Boston University admitted more students without test scores than students with test scores.

This means that Boston University relied heavily on grades and rigor of classes taken by the applicant as a proxy for college readiness in the absence of a test score.

The drop in acceptance rates driven by the big leap in applications means that an applicant to Boston University today must present as an academic achiever and a unique striver in his/her activities as well. Boston university has simply become harder to get into because of the increased competition. Boston University is now a moderately hard college to get into.

Where do Boston University graduates work and what do they earn?

According to Boston University, 90% of its graduating class of 2021 were either employed, in graduate school, joined military service or fellowships 6 months after graduation.

More than 600 employers participate in on-campus career fairs at Boston university.

Many recent Boston University alumni have also made it onto the Forbes 2021 “30 Under 30 List”.

Highlights of employers who hire Boston University undergraduates:

• Accenture

• Amazon

• Apple

• Boston Celtics

• Boston Children’s Hospital

• Boston Consulting Group

• Buzzfeed

• Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

• Deloitte

• Dunkin’ Brands

• ESPN

• Fidelity Investments

• Google
  

• HubSpot

• IBM

• JetBlue Airlines

• Liberty Mutual

• Lockheed Martin

• Marriott International

• Massachusetts General Hospital

• Merck & Co.

• NBCUniversal

• Nike

• Philips Healthcare

• PwC

• Raytheon
  

• Sanofi Genzyme

• Teach for America

• Tesla

• The White House

• Twitter

• U.S. Department of State

• U.S. House of Representatives

• Wayfair

• WME Entertainment

Earnings Data for Boston University Graduates

With the costs of attending college becoming prohibitively expensive, it is hard to treat the college experience as a strictly educational and developmental one. You have to think about your earnings potential as well. Unless you are very lucky, chances are that you will graduate with some student debt. Whether you can afford to pay it off in reasonable time, and not have this debt interfere with your ability to live your life without a overhanging debt burden depends on what you can earn when you graduate from college.

Knowing what you can earn with the the degree you earn and the college you earned it at is essential for planning your life. The data we provide here is meant as a guideline only as there will be variance between individuals based on many factors including the types of jobs and employers they pursue.

Data from Payscale based on 3,977 responses

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