Boston University Data & Information Overview

Want the scoop on Boston University? We've put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors Boston U offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you'll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning
• Related Schools

How Well Is Boston University Ranked?

2021 Rankings

College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.

Boston University was awarded 210 badges in the 2021 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is psychology.

Overall Quality

Boston U landed the #49 spot in College Factual's 2021 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 1,715 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation. This is an improvement over the previous year, when Boston U held the #56 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

Boston U is also ranked #8 out of 68 schools in Massachusetts.

See all of the rankings for Boston University.

Is It Hard to Get Into Boston U?

Acceptance Rate

Boston University has a very low acceptance rate of 25%, making it one of the most selective out of all the colleges and universities in the nation. It's probably a good idea to apply to other schools in addition to Boston U just in case you don't make the cut.

Average Test Scores

About 63% of students accepted to Boston U submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 640 and 720. Math scores were between 660 and 760.

Boston U received ACT scores from 52% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 29 and 32.

Learn more about Boston University admissions.

Boston University Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Boston U is an impressive 10 to 1. That's quite good when you compare it to the national average of 15 to 1. This is a good sign that students at the school will have more opportunities for one-on-one interactions with their professors.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Boston University is 70%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at Boston University

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 93% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Boston University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At Boston U the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 80%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Boston University.

Excellent Overall Diversity at Boston U

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 18,080 undergraduates at Boston U with 16,840 being full-time and 1,240 being part-time.

Boston U Diversity Score

For each college and university, College Factual calculates an overall diversity score that takes four factors into account: gender, ethnicity, age, and home location of the student. Then, the schools with the best mixtures of students with respect to these factors are ranked the highest.

With an overall score of 98.58 out of 100, Boston U is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

Get more detailed information on diversity and student demographics at Boston University.

How Much Does Boston University Cost?

The overall average net price of Boston U is $30,729. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for Boston U

$0-30 K	$30K-48K	$48-75	$75-110K	$110K +
$15,661	$13,211	$20,801	$32,265	$47,586

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Boston U, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At Boston U, approximately 32% of students took out student loans averaging $11,099 a year. That adds up to $44,396 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at Boston U is 1.7%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Boston University.

How Much Money Do Boston U Graduates Make?

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Boston U with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $65,300 in their early years. This is good news for future Boston U graduates since it is 64% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.

See which majors at Boston University make the most money.

Location of Boston University

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston University is a private not-for-profit institution. Boston is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

Get more details about the location of Boston University.

Contact details for Boston U are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	One Silber Way, Boston, MA 02215
Phone:	617-353-2000
Website:	www.bu.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/BostonUniversity
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/BU_Tweets

Boston University Majors

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 133 majors graduated from Boston University. Of these students, 4,780 received undergraduate degrees and 6,718 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors	Bachelor’s Degrees	Average Salary of Graduates
Business Administration & Management	778	$56,300
Communication & Media Studies	432	$42,900
Economics	289	$50,000
General Psychology	229	$33,700
Computer Science	211	$78,200
International Relations & National Security	208	$36,200
Radio, Television & Digital Communication	190	$32,000
Health Sciences & Services	186	$35,700
Mechanical Engineering	143	$66,900
Biomedical Engineering	129	$55,300

Learn more about the majors offered at Boston University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at Boston U

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2017-2018, 3,464 students took at least one online class at Boston University. This is an increase from the 3,026 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2017-2018	3,464	2,534
2016-2017	3,026	2,639
2015-2016	2,994	2,658
2014-2015	2,663	2,380
2013-2014	2,530	2,354

Learn more about online learning at Boston University.

Related Schools

If you’re considering Boston University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

• Bryn Mawr College
• Dickinson College
• Hampshire College
• The College of Wooster
• Trinity College

Curious on how these schools stack up against Boston U? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Cmcnicoll at English Wikipedia under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.