by our College Data Analytics TeamBoston University is a private not-for-profit institution in Boston, Massachusetts enrolling 18,248 undergraduates. It accepts 11% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 89%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #49 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 1%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Boston University ranks #49 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 1%.
College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.
Boston University was awarded 953 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, Boston University is ranked #49 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 1% of all schools in the nation!
Boston University is also ranked #5 on the Best Colleges in Massachusetts list.
See all of the rankings for Boston University.
With an acceptance rate of 11%, Boston University is one of the most selective schools in the country. Good grades and high test scores alone may not be enough to get you into the school, so do your best to submit a stellar application.
About 33% of students accepted to Boston University submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 690 and 750. Math scores were between 730 and 780.
Boston University received ACT scores from 10% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 34.
Learn more about Boston University admissions.
At Boston University, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 10 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
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 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%.
Boston University has a freshmen retention rate of 95%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Boston University for first-time, full-time students is 89%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Boston University.
In the current academic year, there are 18,248 undergraduates at Boston University.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Boston University.
The typical net cost at Boston University is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,500 | $9,342 | $11,778 | $22,517 | $47,504 |
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 price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of Boston University, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At Boston University, approximately 23% of students took out student loans averaging $5,428 a year. That adds up to $21,712 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.0%. 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.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Boston University make around $83,238 per year during the early years of their employment. That’s great news for Boston University students since it is 69% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Boston University make the most money.
Boston University is an private not-for-profit institution situated in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston is a great location for students who prefer city over country life. Get more details about the location of Boston University.
Get in touch with Boston University are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | One Silber Way, Boston, MA 02215 |
| Phone: | 6173532000 |
| Website: | www.bu.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/BostonUniversity |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/BU_Tweets |
In the latest year of available data, students from 28 majors graduated from Boston University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 13,579 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 1,962 | $85,866 |
| Computer Science | 699 | $91,860 |
| Public Relations & Advertising | 496 | $55,843 |
| Data Analytics. | 440 | NA |
| Economics | 438 | $53,654 |
| Management Sciences & Methods | 365 | $80,155 |
| General Psychology | 352 | $36,751 |
| Social Work | 352 | $49,509 |
| Radio, TV & Digital Communication | 349 | $38,766 |
216 students took at least one online class at Boston University.
Online courses are 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.
Learn more about online learning at Boston University.
Interested in comparing Boston University? Match them up using College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
References