Boston University acceptance rate and admissions statistics
Boston University admitted 9,853 of 76,776 first-year applicants in its 2025-26 Common Data Set, an official acceptance rate of 12.8%. Every number below comes from the college’s own Common Data Set, each year linked to its document; a figure the college leaves blank says “Not published”, and the notes at the foot of the page say where a total is the sum of rows the college printed.
What did admitted applicants have? How to get into Boston University counts the grades, scores and activities they posted.
Boston University acceptance rate by year
| CDS year | Applied | Admitted | Acceptance rate | Enrolled | Yield |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-26 | 76,776 | 9,853 | 12.8% | 3,449 | 35.0% |
| 2024-25 | 78,769 | 8,749 | 11.1% | 3,268 | 37.4% |
| 2023-24 | 80,495 | 8,733 | 10.8% | 3,145 | 36.0% |
Acceptance rate is admitted divided by applied; yield is enrolled divided by admitted. Both are computed by Aristo Scholars from the two counts printed beside them.
Early decision at Boston University
Boston University waitlist
Boston University SAT and ACT scores
What Boston University says matters in admission
In section C7 each college rates its own admission factors as Very Important, Important, Considered or Not Considered. These are the factors Boston University rated in the top two tiers.
- 2025-26
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
- 2024-25
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
- 2023-24
- Very important: Rigor of secondary school record, Academic GPA
- Important: Class rank, Application essay, Recommendations, Extracurricular activities, Character/personal qualities
Boston University testing policy for students applying in 2026-27
Test optional for first-year applicants applying for admission through fall 2028 and spring 2029. This covers all BU undergraduate schools and scholarship programs.
From Boston University’s admissions site, read 2026-11-05. Policies change; the college’s page is the authority.
How these numbers were read
2025-26 figures are from the updated Section C document. The 2025-26 and 2023-24 C1 print counts by sex only, so those totals are the sums of the sex rows. C7 rates Talent/ability Not Considered in general admission, with a footnote that it is very important for College of Fine Arts applicants. C21 counts combine both early decision rounds.
Boston University acceptance rate questions
- What is the Boston University acceptance rate?
- Boston University's Common Data Set for 2025-26 reports 76,776 first-year applicants and 9,853 admitted, an acceptance rate of 12.8%. It was 11.1% in 2024-25 and 10.8% in 2023-24.
- What is the Boston University early decision acceptance rate?
- In 2025-26, 2,165 of 6,907 early decision applicants were admitted (31.3%), against 12.8% of all applicants. Early decision applicants are a different pool who commit to enroll, so the two rates are not a like-for-like comparison.
- What SAT scores do Boston University students have?
- In 2025-26, the middle half of enrolled first-year students who submitted the SAT scored 1420 to 1510, and ACT submitters scored 33 to 34. 36.0% of enrolled students submitted an SAT score.
- How many students get off the Boston University waitlist?
- In 2025-26, Boston University offered 16,135 applicants a place on the waitlist; 10,393 accepted one, and 479 were admitted from it.
- Does Boston University require the SAT or ACT for students applying in 2026-27?
- Test optional for first-year applicants applying for admission through fall 2028 and spring 2029. This covers all BU undergraduate schools and scholarship programs.
Applying to Boston University?
An acceptance rate describes the whole pool, not one student. A Specialist can read your student’s file against what Boston University says it weighs.
Source: Boston University Common Data Set, sections C1, C2, C7, C9 and C21, each year linked above, read 2026-11-05. Aristo Scholars is not affiliated with Boston University. All official acceptance rates