Academic Progress and Graduation

University Policy

To obtain a bachelor’s degree, most students must have completed a minimum of 128 credits and 32 courses. As a guide for completing the four-year undergraduate program, students should keep in mind that sophomore status usually is attained by satisfactorily completing 32 credits of coursework; junior status, 64 credits; senior status, 96 credits. The number may vary depending on the college of enrollment.

The individual schools and colleges of the University have specific academic requirements and standards for determining satisfactory completion of a program of study (e.g., grades, concentrations, divisional studies).

To graduate, students must apply to their school or college by the deadline stipulated by the school or college.

College of Engineering Policy

The BS degree requires 130 to 136 semester credits of prescribed curricular courses, depending on the program selected. No more than 12 credits with a grade of D may be applied toward a degree. This graduation requirement applies only to the set of courses presented for graduation and not to all courses that appear on the transcript. In addition, a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 (excluding PDP courses) for all courses taken at Boston University is required.

Students who have transferred courses from another college or university and have satisfied all program requirements, but are deficient in the required number of credit hours to graduate, are required to make up the deficiency by taking an academic course which carries Boston University credit, with the exception of PDP courses, and which is graded on the basis of A, B, C, or D. Courses graded Pass/Fail are not acceptable. Duplicate course credit and courses below the level of the minimum degree requirements cannot be used to fulfill this credit deficiency. A minimum of 24 credits in the social sciences and humanities is required. A credit deficiency in the mathematics and natural science requirements must be satisfied by a mathematics or natural science course. A credit deficiency in an engineering course must be satisfied by engineering credit. A minimum of 16 credits in mathematics and 16 credits in natural science is required.

A credit deficiency in the social science and humanities requirement must be satisfied by a social science or humanities course, or by a modern foreign language course for non-native speakers.

A graduation application must be submitted to the Undergraduate Records Office at least six months prior to the date of graduation. The applicant is required to have a formal graduation review with the Undergraduate Records Office. This is to ensure that all curricular and credit requirements have been, or will be, met in time for graduation.