About BU: Facts & Figures

A quick glimpse into what makes BU one of the top research universities in the world. And a great place to work on your Quidditch game.

Our Reputation

#50 in the world—The Times of Higher Education 2014
#41 in the nation—U.S. News & World Report (Best National Universities 2014)
#12 Biomedical Engineering in the nation—U.S. News & World Report
#2 Occupational Therapy in the nation—U.S. News & World Report
#11 Health Care Management—U.S. News & World Report
#23 in the nation for undergraduate business programs—Bloomberg Businessweek
#28 in research universities—Forbes
#51 Best Values in Colleges 2013–14 based on academic excellence and economic value—Kiplinger’s Personal Finance

Our Faculty

78% of our full-time faculty have a PhD or equivalent
2 Pulitzer Prize winners
2 Nobel Prize winners (Elie Wiesel teaches undergraduates)
17 members of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
2 MacArthur Fellows
1 two-time Emmy Award winner
12 Sloan Research Fellows
2 former U.S. Poets Laureate
30 Guggenheim Fellows

Class of 2018 Student Profile*
Average Rank in High School Class	Top 9%
Average Overall Grade	A-
Average SAT Composite	2025
Average ACT	30
Total Applications	54,161
Total Freshmen in the Class	3,700

*students admitted to the Class of 2018

Our Campus
Student/Faculty Ratio	13:1
Average Class Size	27
Student Body	30,009
Undergraduate	15,834
Graduate & Doctoral	14,175
Full-time Faculty	2,615
Classrooms	486
Libraries	24
Laboratories	2,003

Our Global Reach
Students	50 U.S. states, nearly 100 countries
Student Cultural Organizations	42
Student Religious Organizations	19
Global Initiatives and Philanthropy	32

Student Body*
Asian American	14.5%
Black / African American	5.1%
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander	0.4%
Hispanic / Latino American	9.8%
International	20.6%
Native American / Alaskan Native	0.7%
White	42.9%
Other/Unknown	6%

*Enrolled Class of 2017 undergraduates, based on students reporting

Our Academic Programs
Undergraduate Schools & Colleges	College of Arts & Sciences College of Communication College of Engineering College of Fine Arts College of General Studies College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College School of Education School of Hospitality Administration School of Management
Programs of Study	More than 250
Study Abroad Programs	Over 90 in more than 20 countries

Our Sports
Varsity	23 (13 Women’s, 10 Men’s) M/W Basketball M/W Rowing M/W Cross Country Women’s Golf M/W Ice Hockey M/W Indoor Track M/W Outdoor Track Women’s Field Hockey Women’s Lacrosse M/W Soccer Women’s Softball M/W Swimming M/W Tennis Men’s Wrestling
Club Sports	33
Intramural Sports	15
Fitness & Recreation Classes	More than 400 credit and noncredit classes

Student Organizations
Total on Campus	Nearly 500, including: Alianza Latina Amnesty International Film Society French Cultural Society Hillel Students Organization International Students Consortium Outing Club Photography Club Ski & Snowboard Club Students in Free Enterprise Zen Society

Our Place in History

You probably wouldn’t have guessed that Boston University began as a Methodist seminary in Vermont. Its founder was an ardent Bostonian abolitionist who raised $15,000 to start a progressive secondary school in 1839. Originally named the Newbury Biblical Institute, the school moved to New Hampshire in 1847 and to Boston in 1867. It was chartered as Boston University in 1869.

In 1875, BU professor Alexander Graham Bell received a year’s salary advance to pursue his research. The following year, he invented the telephone in a BU lab.
BU established the nation’s first academic program in public relations in 1947.
In 1965, Boston University established the nation’s first combined cancer research and teaching laboratory at its Medical Center.
In 1971, Boston University began a collaboration with the Framingham Heart Study, the largest project to study the root causes of cardiovascular disease, following three generations of participants in the town of Framingham, MA. BU continues this collaboration today.
In 1985, Professor Charles DeLisi initiated what would become the Human Genome Project.

Women’s Rights

BU was the first university to open all divisions to female students (1872).
Boston University Medical College was the first coeducational medical college in the world (1873).
BU was the first American university to award a Ph.D. to a woman, classical scholar Helen Magil (1877).

Civil Rights

Rebecca Lee, the first black woman to receive a medical degree in the U.S. (and perhaps the world), graduated in 1864 from the New England Female Medical College, which became a part of Boston University.
African-born Dr. Solomon Carter Fuller, an 1897 graduate of the School of Medicine, became the nation’s first black psychiatrist and the first person in the U.S. to perform significant research on Alzheimer’s Disease.
In 1953, Howard Thurman became Dean of Marsh Chapel, the first black dean at a predominantly white university.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. received his Ph.D. in Theology from BU in 1955. After receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, he presented his manuscripts, records and personal papers to the University’s Mugar Memorial Library.