In 2005, BU accepted three of every four applicants. In winter-spring 2018, fewer than one in four were admitted to the Class of 2022.

That our acceptance rate has dropped from 75 percent to 22 percent speaks to our rapid rise as a premier academic and research institution. In 2018, we received a record-breaking 64,481 applicants. The students we enroll are increasingly diverse, academically accomplished, and ambitious.

The Class of 2022 entering freshmen come from the top of their high school class and have a grade point average of 3.71, and they average a Best Composite Score of 1421 (including SAT and converted ACT). They’re also a very interesting bunch, active in everything from serving as a National Council member for UNICEF to founding an urban garden organization to raising $20,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The incoming class is also one of our most diverse—both racially and socioeconomically—in recent memory. Almost 40 percent of the freshmen are minority students, a designation that includes those of African American, Hispanic, Native Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, Native American, and Asian descent. Broken down, the Class of 2022 is 6.4 percent African American students, 10.1 percent Hispanic students, 22 percent Asian American students, 32.7 percent white students, and 23.3 percent international students.

Starting in fall 2017, the University significantly expanded its commitment to Pell Grant recipients with a new scholarship initiative that meets the students’ full calculated financial need without loans. The scholarships were made possible, in part, by a gift from BU Trustee Richard D. Cohen (CGS’67, Questrom’69) and have made a notable difference in the number of low-income students on campus. This year, more than 600 freshmen are Pell Grant recipients and over 500 of them receive Cohen scholarships to meet full need. “About one in four domestic students is a Pell Grant recipient,” notes President Robert A. Brown.