Boston University

Boston University (BU) is one of the largest private universities in the country with over 18,000 undergrads and14,000 graduate students.  The university is comprised of 11 schools and colleges.  Undergraduates can apply to the college of:

- arts and science,

- communication,

- music,

- health and rehabilitation sciences,

- education,

- visual arts, 

- management,

- engineering,

- hospitality administration, or

- general studies.

Each of BU’s schools has their own general education requirements but all students take the two semester Freshman Writing Program.    Students are also very positive about the First-Year Student Outreach Program which brings freshmen to campus a week early for community service projects.

The schools strongest programs include communications, management/business, biomedical engineering, natural sciences, psychology, international relations and the fine arts.  The school offers enormous opportunities from international paid internships, hands-on-learning opportunities, robotics and biomedical engineering labs, its own concert hall and more.  However, like all large institutions the opportunities are there but it is up to the student to make the most of them. To get the most out of BU, you need to be self-motivated and pro-active.  The school encourages both cooperation and competition.  Unlike many large schools, BU is able to maintain small class size with over 90% of classes being 25 students or smaller.  It accomplishes this by creating smaller groups within the various college freshmen co-horts.

In addition to the size of BU, another characteristic that dominates the BU experience is that it is an urban school that is integrated into the city like GW and NYU.  One may be walking through campus and not realize they are walking through a university.  The urban integrated nature of the school allows for great internships, a faculty that is also working on what they are teaching and cultural opportunities that are hard to match.Simply put it empowers the academic and social life of the academic community.

Since BU is so large, there is no typical students.  With a liberal culture, BU has strong athletics and arts programs which attract particular students but the school is so much more.  Whoever you are, you can find a home at BU.