Photo by Hannah Gay (SAR’21)

Admissions

Applications Up for BU Graduate Programs Leading to Socially Conscious “Helper” Careers

COVID and social justice among factors driving increase

Applications to BU graduate programs in socially conscious “helper” careers are up significantly in this pandemic year, including those in medicine, public health, law, and social work.

For the School of Medicine, applications are up 27 percent, for the School of Public Health 30 percent, and for the School of Law Juris Doctor program 50 percent. The School of Social Work reports a 16 percent increase in applications and Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences graduate programs in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology are up an average of 70 percent. The Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, with its focus on international relations, is seeing graduate applications up 18 percent over last year.

“We could see right from the beginning there would be an increase, but I did not figure it would be 27 percent,” says Kristen Goodell, MED associate dean for admissions. Her team is winnowing approximately 12,000 applications for the 110 seats available for the Class of 2025.   

Graduate applications traditionally grow during economic downturns, but admissions officials from several schools across the University say it’s also a combination of other factors, among them the COVID-19 pandemic, America’s racial reckoning, and four years of a divisive administration in Washington, driving the jump.

“We’re seeing something we haven’t seen in five or six years, which is a substantial increase in our domestic applicants,” says David Cotter, assistant provost for graduate enrollment and master’s and professional student support. “This is fairly typical during a downturned economy, when unemployment rates go up. We saw it in 2008 and 2009.

“What we had a lot of concern with was: are we going to see that again during a pandemic? This is not a typical downturn. And the substantial increases are in what I would call the helper professions,” Cotter says. “Fields where people want to do good are where we are seeing our increases.”

“We always have people who are passionate to change the world, make the world a better place, I just think there are many more who share that feeling now,” says Lisa Sullivan (GRS’86,’92), SPH associate dean for education and a professor of biostatistics. Sullivan oversees the school’s admissions process.

“In both application essays and conversations, we have seen an increase in references to elections, social policy, democracy, the US role in the global economy, Black Lives Matter, immigration, environmental policy, and more,” says Kyle R. MacDonald, SSW assistant dean for enrollment services.

This year, applicants to LAW frequently cite health disparities during the pandemic, racial justice, human rights, and immigrant rights as motivations in their essays, says Alissa Leonard, assistant dean for admissions and financial aid. Voter disenfranchisement and climate change are also mentioned. Some applicants are driven by seeing their own family members adversely impacted by the pandemic, immigration issues, or racial inequality, she says.

“Students are taking up the challenge of fairness for all,” Leonard says.

With that mindset, BU benefits from having innovative programs such as the Immigrants’ Rights & Human Trafficking Program and the Entrepreneurship, IP & Cyberlaw Program at LAW, an ongoing focus on social aspects of public health at SPH, and the high-profile, multidisciplinary new Center for Antiracist Research.

4 years ago, @BU_Law students and I spent several days at the airport helping families devastated & separated by the #MuslimBan. today, @POTUS repealed it. here’s to all the organizers, activists, courageous families, and yes, a few lawyers, who made this possible. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/dhmB7woNnx

— Sarah Sherman-Stokes (@sshermanstokes) January 21, 2021

Nearly all the administrators interviewed say COVID has had a two-pronged effect, spotlighting racial and economic disparities while leaving many Americans newly unemployed, seeking a new career, or changing plans due to conditions on the ground. 

“Our recruitment team has heard from people who have been laid off, such as teachers, who now want to pursue social work,” says SSW’s MacDonald, “and some mention the job security of careers in social work compared to other fields.” 

“Across our graduate programs in occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology, we saw a 70 percent increase in submitted applications compared to last year,” says Christopher Krause, Sargent director of graduate enrollment. Some of that is due to changes in recruiting, some to the economy, but, he says, “I do think it’s also that helper mentality.”

Christopher Moore, dean of Sargent, says that the College’s decision to make the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) optional this year for these programs also likely led to an increase in applications.

“We’re particularly encouraged by this larger, more diverse applicant pool, as it immediately follows our college-wide decision to drop the GRE as a required application component,” Moore says. “Our faculty recognize the GRE as a barrier to application for many, and that it operates disparately against the diversity of our community. Moreover the GRE adds little in predicting an applicant’s success in our programs.”

MED’s Goodell says the pandemic has had an effect on the school’s applications, but mainly on when students are deciding to apply to medical school, not if. It’s not the “Fauci effect,” as the media calls it. Many in the sciences do praise Anthony Fauci (Hon.’18), the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who became a major voice of reason on the pandemic as 2020 went on. But no applicant has cited him in interviews as a reason for their career choice. Going to medical school isn’t a spur-of-the-moment decision, it’s a major life goal that takes years to prepare for. 

“You have to know way in advance that you want to do this,” says Goodell. “The increase [this year] is mostly people who were thinking about medical school, but might have decided to do research for a couple of years or work as an EMT for a couple of years, but instead they thought, I’m just going to throw my hat in the ring now.” Interim opportunities for many students—a volunteer stint or a year abroad—are off the table as a result of the pandemic.

Some graduate programs are still accepting applications for the fall, if not the summer, and every one is on a slightly different timetable. The size of the entering classes can be constrained by factors such as the availability of internships and clinical placements. But SPH did increase its incoming master of public health class, to 80, in the spring, up from 65 last year.

“It’s the pandemic, and it’s social justice, and those two things together are bringing a lot of attention to public health,” says SPH’s Sullivan. “People have a better understanding of what public health is, and laypeople are now using terms you would have never heard them use before. My parents are saying, ‘Flatten the curve.’” 

In its master of science degree programs, SPH is seeing more applicants interested in topics such as climate and health and global health research, in addition to epidemiology, already one of the school’s core areas.

“Our tagline for a long time in digital advertising has been, ‘Do you want to change the world for a living?’” she says. “Maybe it resonates a little bit more with people who are seeing problems they maybe didn’t see as clearly before, and they want to contribute to the solutions.”