Boston University admissions

Private universities · MA. Fall 2023 first-year figures from federal (IPEDS) data. Boston University does not publish admissions by high school, so these figures cover all applicants.

In fall 2023, Boston University admitted 8,733 of 80,495 applicants (11%). Its admit rate was 19% in fall 2019 and 11% in fall 2023. 7% of its first-year students in fall 2023 were California residents. 13 California high schools list Boston University among the colleges their graduates enrolled in.

Admit rate

11%

8,733 admitted of 80,495 applicants

Yield

36%

3,145 admitted students enrolled

SAT, middle 50%

1400–1520

Reading and math combined, among students who submitted scores

ACT, middle 50%

32–34

Composite, among students who submitted scores

By year

Fall	Applicants	Admitted	Admit rate	Enrolled	SAT	ACT
2023	80,495	8,733	11%	3,145	1400–1520	32–34
2022	80,796	11,607	14%	3,635	1350–1500	31–34
2021	75,778	14,129	19%	4,011	1360–1520	31–34
2020	61,007	12,254	20%	2,914	1310–1500	30–34
2019	62,224	11,786	19%	3,156	1340–1510	30–34

A dash means IPEDS has no figure for that year, e.g. test ranges while the college was test-optional.

Where first-year students come from

Where Boston University's first-year students lived when admitted, fall 2023.

Boston University fall 2023 first-year students by residence
Lived in	Enrolled	Share
California	231	7%
Elsewhere in the U.S.	2,097	67%
Abroad	809	26%

Enrolled students only: the federal data has no applicants or admits by residency. Colleges report this in even-numbered years, and some in odd years too, so the newest year shown may be older than the figures above. Abroad means living outside the U.S. when admitted, not citizenship; students whose residence was not reported are left out. Source: U.S. Department of Education (IPEDS).

California high schools that report graduates here

Graduates of 13 California high schools are reported here, from the schools’ own published lists.