Frequently Asked Questions

Each graduate student is assigned an Academic Advisor (staff) and Graduate Program Advisor (faculty). Once you are matriculated into your program, you can view your assigned advisors within your MyBU Student portal. You can also find all the advisors listed by program on the Graduate Student Advisors web page.

A graduate assistantship is an opportunity to work with our full-time faculty by being involved in the classroom as a teaching assistant or by doing research. Our faculty look for students who have the knowledge and skills that are necessary to assist the professor, either in their course or with research.

A part-time assistantship involves working 10 hours a week and a full-time assistantship is working 20 hours a week. Graduate assistantships are not in the form of tuition remission. Depending on the amount the assistantship awarded – payments will be disbursed weekly.

If you are interested in applying for an assistantship, you will need to fill out the graduate assistantship application form and upload a copy of your resume.

Fill out the graduate assistantship application form and upload a copy of your resume.

Applying for the assistantship is not a guarantee that you will receive one. The graduate assistantship is based on faculty need. Our faculty will review each assistantship application and if they feel that the student meets their requirements, they will set up an interview to come in and meet with them.

Unfortunately, assistantships are available for on-campus students only.

The CFA Scholarship is for finance degree students who wish to earn the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA®) credential. The scholarship greatly reduces the exam application fee. The scholarship is awarded on a competitive basis. Students currently enrolled in any of our Master of Science in Financial Management programs are eligible to apply.

The CFA Scholarship application opens every February and October only. Students currently pursuing a finance degree at BU MET will be informed by email of the application process. Scholarships are administered by the Department of Administrative Sciences at BU MET and granted by the CFA Institute. All scholarships are awarded based on academic standing and aptitude for the CFA charter.

Please check your compliance page or the front dashboard of your MyBU Student Portal, to see if you are not compliant with any Boston University Policy. Compliance issues range from missing an official undergraduate transcript after your acceptance, to unresolved tuition hold, and missing emergency contact number or local address. Visit the Current Student Compliance page on the MET website for more information on compliance holds.

Unfortunately, staff cannot bypass a student’s compliance hold. Each student must resolve their own compliance issues to be able to register for classes.

If you are unsure what course to register for, refer to the Study Plan attachment (PDF) in your Welcome Email.

You can also view your program’s list of required courses on the Administrative Sciences department website, by selecting your program and selecting “Program Overview.”

Please refer to the Step-By-Step Guide to Registration. It includes a video tutorial on how to register for classes from the dashboard of MyBU Student Portal.

Please reach out directly to your academic advisor for guidance on what course to take next, and/or to find out how soon your desired course will be available again.

For an on-campus class, if the class is at the room capacity, this means there are no more seats. You will have to wait for someone to drop the course, until the Add-Drop Deadline. The seat capacity cannot be bypassed by a staff member.

The definition of an elective course is:

• Any graduate level course (course number begins with a 6, 7, or 8, and selected courses beginning with a 5)
• Offered by the Administrative Sciences Department (course prefix is AD) or any other department within Metropolitan College
• And all prerequisite courses and/or laboratories have been successfully completed
• A student may petition the Administrative Sciences Department’s Academic Policy and Standards Committee to be allowed to register for a graduate-level course in another school or college within Boston University. However, the Committee’s approval does not guarantee that the student will be allowed to register for the desired course. The final decision about registering for the desired course lies with the other school or college within Boston University.

International students can do CPT, after completing two full-time on-campus semesters. First, we review your record to confirm your eligibility for CPT. Then, we will email you the form that is to be filled out by you and your full-time faculty supervisor. Below is what is needed:

• Have a job offer from a company and the offer letter on their letterhead. In the letter it must have:
  • Name and address of the company
  • Description of your job and responsibilities
  • Start and end dates
  • Whether it is paid or unpaid
  • Whether it is full-time or part-time
• Ask your faculty advisor or a full-time faculty member that you have had a course with to see if they would supervise you during your CPT
• Fill out all the appropriate forms having your faculty supervisor sign the form
• Email everything to your on-campus academic advisor
• We will then register you for the CPT: 1 credit if part-time, 2 credits if full-time
• Once everything is done, you can go onto your ISSO portal to upload the information they need
• Our office will then receive a form to approve your CPT

Unfortunately, we cannot register students for a class after the registration deadline has passed. Students will have to wait until the next semester or online session.
For online classes, the registration deadline is more strict; online classes are accelerated versions of on-campus courses. Online Course Registration Drop and Withdraw deadlines can be found of the BU MET Online Course Calendar.

To drop a course:

• Go to the Dashboard of the MyBU Student Portal and click “Enrollment” on the left side
• Click “Drop Classes”
• On the right side of the course that you want to drop, click on the text box until a check mark appears
• Click the red “Drop” button on the right side of the screen

If you get a pop-up window with a message preventing you from dropping the course, check your compliance page and make sure you have met all compliance requirements. If this issue persists, contact your academic advisor.

You will need to resolve your compliance issue on your own. You can find them either on the front dashboard of your MyBU Student Portal, or by clicking “To Do” and then “Holds” from the red navigation panel on the left.

The schedule for withdrawal tuition refunds can be found on the Tuition Withdrawal Refund Schedule web page.

Online classes have one Drop Deadline per online course; there is no tuition refund afterward and can only be a Withdrawal. Visit the MET Online Calendar for online course drop and withdrawal deadlines.

On-campus summer classes follow a different course calendar. Visit the Summer Term calendar for drop and withdraw dates.

Dropping a course by the drop deadline means the course is entirely removed from our transcript, and the tuition charges are either dropped or refunded to you. A Withdrawal becomes available after the drop deadline; a W appears on your transcript, and you must pay the tuition for the course.

Due to privacy laws, our advisors do not have access to students’ financial records. Please contact BU Student Financials directly at studenta@bu.edu or 617-353-2264.

Dropping a course on the MyBU Student Portal should be automatic, but you may need to wait one business day for Blackboard to update. You may inform your instructor directly that you dropped the course and/or contact BU IS&T at ithelp@bu.edu.

A course with a grade of C+ or below must be retaken. The grade of a retaken course must be B+ or better for it to be credited toward graduation requirements. Please note that while grades of B or B- are considered passing, these grades will not assist in raising an unsatisfactory GPA to a satisfactory level.

The second attempt at your failing grade (if it is a higher grade) will be evaluated by the Academic Department. If the second attempt of the grade is higher, and it restores your GPA to a 3.0 or above, then your academic status will be in Good Standing.

You are not on probation, but you will still need to retake the failed course and earn a passing grade of B- or higher.

Once a student submits their application to graduate, and they are registered in their final courses in their last semester, their status should be updated within 2-3 business days.

To apply for graduation, you must fill out the application to graduate form.

Students officially graduate three times per year – January, May and August. We hold only one ceremony in May, and all are welcome to attend. Once we are getting close to the May ceremony you will receive an email with all the instructions and information required for you to participate in the ceremony. In the meantime, you can find all relevant information on the BU Commencement website.

If you have already received notice that your file has been submitted to ISSO for review, contact them directly at issogac@bu.edu or 617-353-3565. Please allow ISSO some time to process your file and make sure to check your @bu.edu inbox frequently (BU Google Mail option: www.bu.edu/webmail) for further instructions from ISSO.

ISSO takes 10-14 business days to process. Please allow ISSO some time to process your file and make sure to check your @bu.edu inbox frequently (BU Google Mail option: www.bu.edu/webmail) for further instructions from ISSO.

If you are unable to submit your documents through the gateway link, contact metvisa@bu.edu for assistance and include your BU ID number.

If you are an on-campus student and have not taken an online class, there are significant differences in the teaching approach of these classes. Before your first class, you will receive an email from the BU Virtual team that will provide you with a tutorial on how to exclusively use Blackboard. Please make sure to read all the information provided in the tutorial. It is also strongly suggested that you watch this short video explaining the differences between online and on-campus courses.

Please read the Optional Practical Training (OPT) information found on the ISSO website. If you have additional questions regarding OPT, contact the ISSO at issogac@bu.edu or 617-353-3565.

Students need to have completed two full-time semesters on campus consecutively to be eligible for OPT.

This is a list of available scholarships within Metropolitan College.

For international students, there are restrictions and guidelines for part-time status. Check with your assigned academic advisor before making any changes in classes or part-time/full-time status.

The Boston University policy for full-time status is twelve (12) course units per fall or spring semester. For your BU MET program, part-time equals two 4-unit classes or less. Full-time status is a minimum of three 4-unit courses per semester.

You can submit a verified electronic copy of your undergraduate transcript to metadmit@bu.edu.

Please contact metadmit@bu.edu directly if you ordered your official undergraduate transcript to the same address. If you only submitted your unofficial transcript, this would not count. Official transcripts cannot come directly from the student.

Visit the BU Registrar’s web page on Transcript Ordering, or contact the registrar’s office at registrar@bu.edu (617-363-3612). You can also order your official transcript at Parchment.

Eligible transfer of credit must meet ALL of the following requirements:

• Graduate-level courses only
• Not older than 2 years from acceptance into BU MET program
• Grades must be B+ or above
• Cannot have contributed to a graduate (master’s) degree or graduate certificate
• Must be worth 4 units each (maximum of 8 units total)
  • Note: two 3-unit graduate courses will equal one 4-unit BU MET course; three 3-unit graduate courses will equal two 4-unit BU MET courses.

If your course(s) meet all requirements, please provide the transcript of where the courses were taken, as well as supplemental documents such as syllabi. The academic department will review these documents for approval.

Go to MyBU Student Portal -> Financials -> Student Account Balance Due. If there is a problem with your tuition, contact BU Student Financials at studenta@bu.edu or 617-353-2264.

When a student removes an on-campus or online course, after the respective Drop deadline, then the course becomes a W for Withdrawal. There is no automatic tuition refund after that date.

Visit the BU MET Tuition & Fees web page for details. You can also visit individual BU MET program pages to learn the total cost of a degree or certificate program.

Payment plans for full-time and part-time students can be found on the BU Student Financials payment plans web page.

All Boston University Payment Deadlines by Semester can be found on the Student Financials payment deadlines web page.

You will need to contact BU Student Financials at studenta@bu.edu or 617-353-2264 if you dropped a course, but the tuition charges have not been dropped. Students who withdraw from a course are not guaranteed a tuition refund.