BOSTON
UNIVERSITY
Est. 1839
Ranking
#21
In the World
(topuniversities.com)
Est.
1839
Students
34,000
Other Rankings
- #1 by Median Salary in “Law School Rankings”
- #2 in the “20 Best Online Certified Financial Planning (CFP) Programs”
- #2 in “The 20 Best Online Certified Financial Planning (CFP) Programs”
- #1 in “The Best Pre-Med Schools for Future Doctors”
Mascot
- Rhett the Boston Terrier
Website
"
Learning, Virtue, Piety
"
About
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but maintains its historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church.
Founded in 1839 by Methodists, its original campus was in Newbury, Vermont before moving to Boston in 1867. The university now has over 3,900 faculty members and nearly 33,000 students, and is one of Boston’s largest employers. It offers bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, doctorates, and medical, dental, business, and law degrees through 18 schools and colleges on two urban campuses. The main campus is situated along the Charles River in Boston’s Fenway-Kenmore and Allston neighborhoods, while the Boston University Medical Campus is located in Boston’s South End neighborhood.
Among its alumni and current or past faculty, the university counts eight Nobel Laureates, 23 Pulitzer Prize winners, 10 Rhodes Scholars, six Marshall Scholars, 48 Sloan Fellows, nine Academy Award winners, and several Emmy and Tony Award winners. BU also has MacArthur, Fulbright, Truman and Guggenheim Fellowship holders as well as American Academy of Arts and Sciences and National Academy of Sciences members among its past and present graduates and faculty. In 1876, BU professor Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in a BU lab.
The Boston University Terriers compete in the NCAA Division I. BU athletic teams compete in the Patriot League, and Hockey East conferences, and their mascot is Rhett the Boston Terrier. Boston University is well known for men’s hockey, in which it has won five national championships, most recently in 2009.
History
Alma Mater
Boston University traces its roots to the establishment of the Newbury Biblical Institute in Newbury, Vermont in 1839, and was chartered with the name “Boston University” by the Massachusetts Legislature in 1869. The University organized formal Centennial observances both in 1939 and 1969. One or the other, or both dates may appear on various official seals used by different schools of the university.
On April 24–25, 1839 a group of Methodist ministers and laymen at the Old Bromfield Street Church in Boston elected to establish a Methodist theological school. Set up in Newbury, Vermont, the school was named the “Newbury Biblical Institute”.
In 1847, the Congregational Society in Concord, New Hampshire, invited the Institute to relocate to Concord and offered a disused Congregational church building with a capacity of 1200 people. Other citizens of Concord covered the remodeling costs. One stipulation of the invitation was that the Institute remain in Concord for at least 20 years. The charter issued by New Hampshire designated the school the “Methodist General Biblical Institute”, but it was commonly called the “Concord Biblical Institute”.
With the agreed twenty years coming to a close, the trustees of the Concord Biblical Institute purchased 30 acres (120,000 m2) on Aspinwall Hill in Brookline, Massachusetts, as a possible relocation site. The institute moved in 1867 to 23 Pinkney Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston, and received a Massachusetts Charter as the “Boston Theological Seminary”.
In 1869, three trustees of the Boston Theological Institute obtained from the Massachusetts Legislature a charter for a university by name of “Boston University”. These trustees were successful Boston businessmen and Methodist laymen, with a history of involvement in educational enterprises, and they became the founders of Boston University. They were Isaac Rich (1801–1872), Lee Claflin (1791–1871), and Jacob Sleeper (1802–1889), for whom Boston University’s three West Campus dormitories were later named. Lee Claflin’s son, William, was then Governor of Massachusetts and signed the University Charter on May 26, 1869, after it was passed by the Legislature.
As reported by Kathleen Kilgore in her book, Transformations. A History of Boston University (see Further reading), the founders directed the inclusion in the Charter of the following provision, unusual for its time:
No instructor in said University shall ever be required by the Trustees to profess any particular religious opinions as a test of office, and no student shall be refused admission… on account of the religious opinions he may entertain; provided, nonetheless, that this section shall not apply to the theological department of said University. Every department of the new university was also open to all on an equal footing regardless of sex, race, or (with the exception of the School of Theology) religion.
Early years
(1870–1900)
On January 13, 1872, Isaac Rich died, leaving the vast bulk of his estate to a trust that would go to Boston University after ten years of growth while the University was organized. Most of this bequest consisted of real estate throughout the core of the city of Boston which was appraised at more than $1.5 million. Kilgore describes this as the largest single donation to an American college or university as of that time. By December, however, the Great Boston Fire of 1872 had destroyed all but one of the buildings Rich had left to the University, and the insurance companies with which they had been insured were bankrupt. The value of his estate, when turned over to the University in 1882, was half what it had been in 1872.
As a result, the University was unable to build its contemplated campus on Aspinwall Hill, and the land was sold piecemeal as development sites. Street names in the area, including Claflin Road, Claflin Path, and University Road, are the only remaining evidence of University ownership in this area. Following the fire, Boston University established its new facilities in buildings scattered throughout Beacon Hill and later expanded into the Boylston Street and Copley Square area before building its Charles River Campus in the 1930s.
After receiving a year’s salary advance to allow him to pursue his research in 1875, Alexander Graham Bell, then a professor at the school, invented the telephone in a Boston University laboratory. In 1876, Borden Parker Bowne was appointed professor of philosophy. Bowne, an important figure in the history of American religious thought, was an American Christian philosopher and theologian in the Methodist tradition. He is known for his contributions to personalism, a philosophical branch of liberal theology. The movement he led is often referred to as Boston Personalism.
The university continued its tradition of openness in this period. In 1877, Boston University became the first American university to award a PhD to a woman, when classics scholar Helen Magill White earned hers with a thesis on “The Greek Drama”. Then in 1878 Anna Oliver became the first woman to receive a degree in theology in the United States, but the Methodist Church would not ordain her. Lelia Robinson Sawtelle, who graduated from the university’s law school in 1881, became the first woman admitted to the bar in Massachusetts. Solomon Carter Fuller, who graduated from the university’s School of Medicine in 1897, became the first black psychiatrist in the United States and would make significant contributions to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.
Establishment of the Charles River campus
20th century
Seeking to unify a geographically scattered school and enable it to participate in the development of the city, school president Lemuel Murlin arranged that the school buy the present campus along the Charles River. Between 1920 and 1928, the school bought the 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land that had been reclaimed from the river by the Riverfront Improvement Association. Plans for a riverside quadrangle with a Gothic Revival administrative tower modeled on the “Old Boston Stump” in Boston, England were scaled back in the late 1920s when the State Metropolitan District Commission used eminent domain to seize riverfront land for Storrow Drive. Murlin was never able to build the new campus, but his successor, Daniel L. Marsh, led a series of fundraising campaigns (interrupted by both the Great Depression and World War II) that helped Marsh to achieve his dream and to gradually fill in the University’s new campus. By spring 1936, the student body included 10,384 men and women.
In 1951, Harold C. Case became the school’s fifth president and under his direction the character of the campus changed significantly, as he sought to change the school into a national research university. The campus tripled in size to 45 acres (180,000 m2), and added 68 new buildings before Case retired in 1967. The first large dorms, Claflin, Rich and Sleeper Halls in West Campus were built, and in 1965 construction began on 700 Commonwealth Avenue, later named Warren Towers, designed to house 1800 students. Between 1961 and 1966, the BU Law Tower, the George Sherman Union, and the Mugar Memorial Library were constructed in the Brutalist style, a departure from the school’s traditional architecture. The College of Engineering and College of Communication were housed in a former stable building and auto-show room, respectively. Besides his efforts to expand the university into a rival for Greater Boston’s more prestigious academic institutions, such as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (both in Cambridge across the Charles River from the BU campus), Case involved himself in the start of the student/societal upheavals that came to characterize the 1960s.
When a mini-squabble over editorial policy at college radio WBUR-FM – whose offices were under a tall radio antenna mast in front of the School of Public Relations and Communications (later College of Communications) – started growing in the spring of 1964, Case persuaded university trustees that the university should take over the widely-heard radio station (now a major outlet for National Public Radio and still a BU-owned broadcast facility). The trustees approved the firing of student managers and clamped down on programming and editorial policy, which had been led by Jim Thistle, later a major force in Boston’s broadcast news milieu. The on-campus political dispute between Case’s conservative administration and the suddenly active and mostly liberal student body led to other disputes over BU student print publications, such as the B.U. News and the Scarlet, a fraternity association newspaper.
The Presidency of John Silber also saw much expansion of the campus and programs. In the late 1970s, the Lahey Clinic vacated its building at 605 Commonwealth Avenue and moved to Burlington, Massachusetts. The vacated building was purchased by BU to house the School of Education. After arriving from the University of Texas in 1971, Silber set out to remake the university into a global center for research by recruiting star faculty. Two of his faculty “stars”, Elie Wiesel and Derek Walcott, won Nobel Prizes shortly after Silber recruited them. Two others, Saul Bellow and Sheldon Lee Glashow won Nobel Prizes before Silber recruited them.
In addition to recruiting new scholars, Silber expanded the physical campus, constructing the Photonics Center for the study of light, a new building for the School of Management, and the Life Science and Engineering Building for interdisciplinary research, among other projects. Campus expansion continued in the 2000s with the construction of new dormitories and the Agganis Arena.
The 21st century
Present
Robert Brown’s presidency, which started in 2005, has sought to further the consolidation of campus infrastructure that was commenced by earlier administrations. During his tenure, Brown has strengthened the core missions of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, interdisciplinary work, and research and scholarship across all 17 schools and colleges.
In 2007, Brown introduced his 10-year strategic plan, which articulates BU’s core values in a set of institutional commitments and defines goals to be met to establish BU as one of the largest private research universities. Brown committed the University to investing $1.8 billion in the completion of this ten-year strategic plan, allocating new resources to inter-college opportunities for undergraduates, improving the campus’s academic and residential facilities, and recruiting new faculty. One overriding goal has been to break down the barriers between the University’s 17 schools and colleges that had evolved over the decades and find ways to combine different fields and researchers within interdisciplinary research centers. This philosophy of creating new knowledge from a variety of corners of the University extends to undergraduate education, as well, which has been overhauled to expose students to new fields and ways of thinking and problem solving. This includes requiring course work outside their majors, development of personal communications skills, and cross-school collaborations. That new curriculum, called the BU Hub, goes into effect in 2018.
The strategic plan also called for increasing the annual budget by $225 million per year. The FY2016 operating budget was $2.2 billion and the FY2017 budget is $2.4 billion. In FY2016, the research enterprise at the University brought in $368.9 million in sponsored research, comprising 1,896 awards to 722 faculty investigators.
In 2012, the University was invited to join the Association of American Universities, comprising 62 leading research universities in the United States and Canada. BU, one of four universities invited to join the group since 2000, became the 62and member. In the Boston area, Harvard, MIT, and Brandeis are also members.
That same year, a $1 billion fundraising campaign was launched, its first comprehensive campaign, emphasizing financial aid, faculty support, research, and facility improvements. In 2016, the campaign goal was reached. The Board of Trustees voted to raise the goal to $1.5 billion and extend through 2019. The campaign has funded 74 new faculty positions, including 49 named full professorships and 25 Career Development Professorships.
In February 2015 the faculty adopted an open-access policy to make its scholarship publicly accessible online. In 2016, Times Higher Education (THE) named Boston University to a list of 53 “international powerhouse” institutions, schools that have the best chance of being grouped alongside—or ahead of—THE’s most elite global “old stars”, a group that includes the University of Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, MIT, and Princeton.
Campus
Our slice of Boston is a mosaic like no other: a swirl of languages, cultures, and religions; more than 500 student clubs; shows and lectures; a state-of-the-art fitness center; a slew of pubs and restaurants; and the thrills and spills of Terrier ice hockey.
Notable Alumni
Over the course of its history, a number of people associated with Boston University have become notable in their fields. Affiliates of Boston University have won seven Nobel prizes. With over 342,000 alumni, Boston University graduates can be found around the world. American Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr. earned his doctorate in systematic theology at BU in 1955. After gaining prominence by advocating nonviolent resistance to segregation, he won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize. Howard Thurman, the Dean of Marsh Chapel, influenced King’s embrace of nonviolence. Three other alumni hold special historical importance: Rebecca Lee Crumpler was the first African-American woman and Charles Eastman (first named Ohiyesa) the first American Indian to be certified as doctors, and Helen Magill White was the first woman in the US to earn a PhD.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Minister and Activist; Leader of the Civil Rights Movement; Nobel laureate.
PhD, Boston University
Alexander Graham Bell
Inventor of the telephone.
Boston University
Robert Lowell
American Poet.
Boston University
Elie Wiesel
Writer; professor; political activist; Nobel laureate; Holocaust survivor.
Boston University
William Howard Taft
27th President of the United States; 10th Chief of Justice of the United States.
Boston University
Julianne Moore
Actress; author.
Boston University
Howard Stern
American radio and television personality.
Boston University
Admission Information
Secondary School Record (High School)
- Average GPA 3.7 or above.
English Proficiency Test
- TOEFL iBT 90-100 (minimum)
- Boston University TOEFL code: 3087.
- Academic IELTS 7 or above.
- Duolingo English Test score of 120-130.
- *Optional interview: As an additional way to demonstrate your English language proficiency, BU recommends scheduling an optional interview with Initial View or Vericant. Please note that the submission of TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo results are also required.
Standardized Test
- SAT – average 1420
- Boston University SAT code: 3087.
- *SAT code is required when submitting application form with SAT score.
- ACT – average 32
- Boston University ACT code: 1794
- *ACT code is required when submitting application form with ACT score.
* Boston University will adopt a test optional policy for first-year applicants applying for Fall 2021/Spring 2022. This policy applies to all undergraduate schools and colleges at Boston Universities as well as all scholarship programs.
Prospective students and applicants must decide for themselves whether or not to include standardized test scores with their application for admission to Boston University. When making this decision, students should consider the totality of their academic record, their contributions both in and out of the classroom and to their communities, and whether they feel confident that the sum of these experiences fully reflect their academic ability and potential.
Students will have the ability to indicate whether they would like us to consider their standardized test scores when they apply.
Important Dates (2020)
Regular Deadlines
- Application Deadline*
- CSS Profile and FAFSA
- Notification Date
- Enrollment Deposit Due
January 1
Late March
May 1
January Admission Deadlines
* Early Decision is a binding agreement available only to high school seniors for September admissions.
- Application Deadline*
- CSS Profile and FAFSA
- Income Verification Date
- Enrollment Deposit Due
November 1
November 1
Mid November – December
Transfer Deadlines (Fall Semester)
- Application Deadline*
- CSS Profile and FAFSA
- Notification Date
March 1
Mid April – May
Transfer Deadlines (Spring Semester)
- Application Deadline*
- CSS Profile and FAFSA
- Notification Date
November 1
Mid November – December
* Please note: some merit scholarships require you to apply by December 1.
** US citizens and permanent residents only. To import your CSS Profile or FAFSA to our system, BU requires you to provide your Social Security Number on your CSS Profile, FAFSA, Common Application or Coalition Application. For more information, please see the Financial Assistance website.
*** For cello, double bass, flute, percussion, piano, trumpet, violin, and voice applicants to the CFA School of Music.
Admission Requirements
- Average GPA of 3.7 or above.
- TOEFL iBT 90-100 (minimum).
- Boston University TOEFL code: 3087.
- Academic IELTS 7 or above.
- Duolingo English Test: 120-130 score.
- *Optional Interview: As an additional way to demonstrate your English language proficiency, BU recommends scheduling an optional interview with Initial View or Vericant. Please note that the submission of TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo results are also required.
- TOEFL iBT 90-100 (minimum).
- Boston University TOEFL code: 3087.
- Academic IELTS 7 or above.
- Duolingo English Test: 120-130 score.
- *Optional Interview: As an additional way to demonstrate your English language proficiency, BU recommends scheduling an optional interview with Initial View or Vericant. Please note that the submission of TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo results are also required.
* Boston University will adopt a test optional policy for first-year applicants applying for Fall 2021/Spring 2022. This policy applies to all undergraduate schools and colleges at Boston Universities as well as all scholarship programs.
Prospective students and applicants must decide for themselves whether or not to include standardized test scores with their application for admission to Boston University. When making this decision, students should consider the totality of their academic record, their contributions both in and out of the classroom and to their communities, and whether they feel confident that the sum of these experiences fully reflect their academic ability and potential.
Students will have the ability to indicate whether they would like us to consider their standardized test scores when they apply.
Important Dates
| Regular Deadlines | |
|---|---|
|
Application Deadline* |
January 1 |
|
CSS Profile and FAFSA® |
January 1 |
|
Notification Date |
Late March |
|
Enrollment Deposit Due |
May 1 |
| January Admission Deadlines | |
|---|---|
|
*Early Decision is a binding agreements available only to high school seniors for September admission. |
|
|
Application Deadline* |
November 1 |
|
CSS Profile and FAFSA® |
November 1 |
|
Notification Date |
November 1 |
|
Enrollment Deposit Due |
Mid November - December |
| Transfer Deadlines (September) | |
|---|---|
|
Application Deadline* |
March 1 |
|
CSS Profile and FAFSA® |
March 1 |
|
Notification Date |
Mid April - May |
| Transfer Deadlines (January) | |
|---|---|
|
Application Deadline* |
November 1 |
|
CSS Profile and FAFSA® |
November 1 |
|
Notification Date |
Mid November - December |
Tuition Fee
Average Cost - Yearly (2020 - 2021 International Student)
- Tuition
- University Fees
- Medical Insurance
- Housing and Meals
- Books and Supplies
- Incidentals
$ 1,218
$ 2,466 (2019/2020 rates, subject to change)
$ 16,640 (estimate for a typical double room and a minimum meal plan)
$ 1,000
$ 4,172 (estimate includes transportation, personal expenses, and vacation allowance)
- TOTAL for 2020/2021 Academic Year
$ 82,350 (nine-month school year)
| Average Cost - Yearly (2020-2021 International Student) | |
|---|---|
|
Tuition |
$ 56,854 |
|
University Fees |
$ 1,218 |
|
Medical Insurace |
$ 2,466 (2019/2020 rates, subject to change) |
|
Housing and Meals |
$ 16,640 (Estimate for a typical double room and a minimum meal plan) |
|
Books and Supplies |
$ 1,000 |
|
Incidentals |
$ 4,172 (estimate includes transportation, personal expenses, and vacation allowance) |
Scholarships
BU’s most prestigious scholarship, scholars become part of a unique campus community that offers intellectual, cultural and social opportunities. Competitive applicants who are among the most accomplished in their class and demonstrate exceptional engagement in their schools and communities should apply.
- Annual Value: Full tuition & Fees
- Deadline: December 1
- Number of Awards: 20
- No CSS Profile & FAFSA® required
- Available to International Students
Learn More: http://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/first-year-merit/trustee/
Given to first-year students from around the globe who demonstrate exceptional academic achievement. In addition to being among our most talented students, they also excel beyond the classroom and are leaders in their schools and communities.
- Annual Value: $ 25,000
- Deadline: December 1
- Available to International Students
Learn More: http://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/first-year-merit/national-merit/
For students recognized by the National Hispanic Recognition Program who have exceptionally strong academic records. Students are encouraged to submit a copy of their NHPR letter to by January 6.
- Annual Value: $ 25,000
- Deadline: January 6
- FAFSA® and CSS Profile are recommended
Learn More: http://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/first-year-merit/national-hispanic/
For College of Engineering applicants who have anticipated in at least one season with a FIRST robotics team.
- Annual Value: $ 25,000
- Deadline: February 1
- Number of Awards: Varies
Learn More: http://www.bu.edu/admissions/tuition-aid/scholarships-financial-aid/first-year-merit/eng-first-robotics/
FAIR USE STATEMENT
This page may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Most of the time, however, we give credits to the author of quotes, photos and other related materials. We sourced these materials from various internet sites, in an effort to advance understanding of environmental, political, geographical, anthropological, biological, human rights, economic, democratic, scientific, cultural and social justice issues, etc.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_University
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/
https://www.topuniversities.com/