College profile
Boston University
MA · Private nonprofit · Large city · 80,495 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The major moves the money more than the admit letter. Computer Science grads from here earn about $136,667 four years out; drama grads about $39,322 — a 3.5× spread on the same diploma. Have the major conversation before you deposit, not after.
- There is merit money here, but you compete for it. Every named award at this college is competitive — the published GPA and score figures describe who tends to win them, not a bar that guarantees anything. Worth applying for; not worth counting on when you budget.
- Almost everyone who starts here finishes. 89% graduate within six years — the standard federal measure. Nationally about a third of students who start a bachelor's never finish one, and an unfinished degree is the most expensive outcome in this decision: the debt stays, the credential doesn't.
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 4% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 50% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- Your price depends enormously on whether you qualify for aid — and this college says exactly how. It publishes tuition-free aid for families earning under $200,000. Families who receive aid average about $24,402/yr here; without aid it's the full ~$86,285/yr. The college's own net-price calculator turns all of this into your family's own estimate.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
Highly selectiveHighly selective reach for nearly every applicant.
Best for
- Strong academic profiles — students here cluster in the top test and GPA tiers (bands above)
- Strong test/GPA students chasing merit aid — Trustee Scholarship or Presidential Scholarship on offer (see merit-scholarship tab below)
- Research-oriented students (R1 — top tier of federal research funding)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1400, or ACT below 32, or unweighted GPA below 3.70 (test bands are the school's own; the 3.70 line is our estimate, not a published figure)
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- Big sticker, but don't rule it out on price — this school publishes tuition-free aid for families earning under $200,000. Without aid the full price is ~$86,285/yr; aid-receiving families average ~$24,402/yr — run the school's own net price calculator for your real number
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
28% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 10% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
High-school GPA
3.90 avg unweightedGPA on the plain 4.0 scale, no honors/AP bonus. When a college publishes an "average admitted GPA of 3.9," it's often this scale — don't compare it to a weighted 4.3. GPA, enrolled first-years
Enrolled first-years by GPA band: 4.00 41% · 3.75-3.99 37% · 3.50-3.74 22%
unweighted 4.0 scale. Boston University Common Data Set 2024-2025, Section C (C11 GPA distribution, C12 average HS GPA), Analytical Services & Institutional Research ↗
As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2024-25) (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Boston University actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Boston University's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Boston University's own published aid policy · 2026-27
Under the BU Promise, admitted domestic first-year, first-time students from families earning less than $200,000 annually, with typical assets, can expect financial aid to cover full tuition—roughly two-thirds of BU's total cost of attendance—plus a portion of housing and dining costs, with a parent contribution capped at $20,000 per year. Families with household incomes of $75,000 or less, with typical assets, can expect to pay nothing … While families may still choose to borrow as part of their own financial planning, BU Promise no longer includes loans as part of meeting demonstrated financial need. … BU Promise builds on the University's longstanding commitment to meeting 100 percent of demonstrated financial need while making financial aid easier to understand and more predictable.
Income thresholds assume typical assets — and this college uses the CSS Profile, which can count home equity and business value the federal form ignores. Policy independently verified against the college's financial-aid pages ↗.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$487K ahead at full price +$735K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Boston University
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Boston University actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Boston University's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Computer Science. | $136,667 |
| Computer Engineering. | $135,394 |
| Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other. | $110,622 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $108,412 |
| Biomedical/Medical Engineering. | $99,024 |
| Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering. | $98,953 |
| Economics. | $96,723 |
| Mechanical Engineering. | $95,757 |
| Mathematics. | $84,784 |
| Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other. | $83,413 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Merit aidScholarship money awarded for grades or test scores, not financial need — at many colleges it's automatic at certain GPA/score levels.
What your test score unlocks at Boston University
Score-or-merit-based scholarships published by the institution. Stackable in most cases — confirm with the financial aid office.
| Award | Annual award | Score gate |
|---|---|---|
|
Trustee Scholarship
Trustee · any
|
$67,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1500+ SAT |
|
Presidential Scholarship
Presidential · any
|
$25,000/yr as published, checked 2026-06-06 · source ↗ |
1400+ SAT |
See all merit scholarships across colleges + 13 national awards on /merit-scholarships →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
AI program signal
AI + computing education at Boston University
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
Alternatives to Boston University
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on Boston University?
Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Boston University and every other college on your list.
Get your child's odds at Boston University →Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to Boston University?
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
167 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name Boston University on it. Between them they printed 812 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at Boston University, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
and 155 more
Published, but not ranked — these schools name Boston University on a list of where their graduates enrolled whose class years we cannot read ("Since 2023", or no class year printed), so their totals are shown rather than divided: Pierrepont School (3, not stated); The Lovett School (2, List as of 5/1/2026 (no class year printed on the list itself; page 2 header reads "College Acceptance and Matriculation" and links this file as the "Class of 2026 matriculation list")).
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
15 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name Boston University on it. Between them they printed 119 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to Boston University, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
and 5 more
All 180 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
For Parents
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantBoston University is a private nonprofit four-year college in MA. It admitted 11% of applicants (80,495 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1400–1520, ACT 32–34. 28% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 10% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class. Average enrolled GPA 3.9 (unweighted, 2024-25, as published by the college).
Cost: about $24,402 a year on average with aid, $86,285 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $83,238 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $734,772 ahead with aid, $487,240 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Computer Science ($136,667); Computer Engineering ($135,394); Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other ($110,622).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 4% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 50% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Aid pledge published by the college for 2026-27: families earning under $75,000 pay nothing; families earning under $200,000 pay no tuition; aid packages carry no loans; the college meets full demonstrated need.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name Boston University: 167, 812 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Punahou School (8.8 per class year, 35 over 4 class years, the past four years (2022 – 2025)); Santa Margarita Catholic High School (7.0 per class year, 7 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); Avenues New York (6.0 per class year, 6 over 1 class year, CLASSES OF 2023–2026, counted column "CLASS OF 2026"). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/boston-university.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming Boston University: 15, 119 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often Archbishop Mitty High School (30.0 per class year, 30 over 1 class year, Class of 2025); Middlesex School (8.0 per class year, 8 over 1 class year, Class of 2026, counted column "accepted"); St Andrews School Of Boca Raton Inc (6.0 per class year, 6 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/boston-university.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/boston-university.json