Admissions

Applications for the BU Class of 2028 Are In: Here’s What We Know So Far

An estimated 60 percent of incoming freshmen expected to come from early decision pool

BU caught high school senior Eugene Lee’s eye for several reasons, starting with its national reputation and Boston “college town” location. But it was also the BU Rocket Propulsion Group, since he plans to major in mechanical engineering, with a concentration in aerospace engineering. The fact that Lee (ENG’28) had also learned that he’d be receiving a full-ride scholarship from BU in partnership with national nonprofit QuestBridge helped him decide to apply here early decision.

It was a decision that paid off. He is among the first members of BU’s Class of 2028. 

“My mom was freaking out when we heard,” says Lee, who is from Oahu and plays in the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra. “She was alternating between just being happy and crying happy tears for a half hour. I’m just 100 percent relieved. All my friends are panicking and waiting to hear about their college acceptances, but I know where I’m going.”

Lee is one of 6,850 students who applied to BU via early decision this admissions season. Overall, applications to the University dipped slightly compared to last year (about a 2 percent decrease), with 78,750 submissions to the Class of 2028, according to Kelly Walter (Wheelock’81), dean of admissions and associate vice president for enrollment. 

Walter says while there is no definitive reason for the 2 percent dip in applicants this year, she has some thoughts. BU started to see a rise in interested students beginning in fall 2021, the first year BU made standardized tests optional for applicants. “That increase was unprecedented, and the applicant pool has been normalizing ever since,” she says. Second as high school students around the country have embraced early decision (a trend that’s been reported in national media), many students settle on a college earlier and therefore don’t apply to as many institutions via regular decision. Nonetheless, Walter says, “This year’s applicant pool is large and highly qualified.”

With the deadline for fall 2024 now closed and this year’s early decision students notified of their status, the admissions team is currently focused on reading the remaining applications, with a targeted total class size of 3,200. Applicants will be notified by late March whether or not they have a spot in the new class.

Here are some insights about the Class of 2028 hopefuls:

Early decision

Walter estimates about 60 percent of the entering class will be filled by those who applied early decision: BU has two rounds of early decision; the deadlines this year were November 1 and January 4. The Early Decision I group was notified of their status in December, and Early Decision II on February 9. “They’re all excited, and we’ll be hearing from them and securing their place in the class in the next two weeks or so,” Walter says.

Among the ED applicants accepted are 51 QuestBridge scholars (the nonprofit connects exceptional low-income youth with top colleges across the country) and 20 Posse students (likewise a national scholarship program, this one targeting urban high school students with extraordinary academic and leadership skills). “We’re already off to a phenomenal start with the Class of 2028,” Walter says.

Geographic makeup of the class

International students account for 20 percent of this year’s total applicants, hailing from 167 countries, with China, India, South Korea, Canada, and Turkey the top five countries, respectively. Walter says she was excited to see applicants from Burkina Faso, Benin, Croatia, and Papua, New Guinea, among this year’s applicants, countries that weren’t represented last year. 

Nationally, applicants came from all 50 US states. The top five states: New York, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Texas.

First generation 

Approximately 25 percent of this year’s applicants (19,512 students) would be the first in their families to go to college. 

Standardized test scores

The average GPA among this year’s applicants is 3.8; the average SAT is 1455 (14 points higher than last year); the average ACT is 32 (the same as last year). Standardized tests remained optional for students. 

One key reason this admissions season was different 

Walter says there was one significant change to this admissions season: in June 2023, the US Supreme Court banned the consideration of race in the review of admissions applications, ending race-based affirmative action. As a result, admissions teams nationwide have had to alter how they assess students. 

When the decision was handed down last June, Walter and other University leaders expressed concerns regarding the SCOTUS decision. Walter told BU Today then that BU Admissions firmly believes “that diversity enriches the educational experience of all students and promotes a deeper understanding of different cultures, perspectives, and ideas.”

While students are still given the choice of entering their race on the Common Application, she says the University will have no knowledge of the racial composition of the Class of 2028 until all acceptance offers have been decided, including those on any potential waitlist. 

Walter also told BU Today at the time that BU Admissions would, “to the extent permitted by law,” continue the practice of holistic admissions in selecting its future classes.

“Our admissions decisions have never been based on one single factor, whether it’s a GPA, a test score, or the race of an applicant,” she says. “Our review process is designed to identify the most highly qualified applicants for admission. It includes consideration of a student’s academic record, of course, but it also extends to additional factors, such as an applicant’s special skills and their interests and involvement in and outside of the classroom.”

In addition to grades and optional test scores, Admissions relies on a student’s letters of recommendation from teachers, school counselors, and employers. “Hearing from a teacher can help us understand a student’s motivation and their work ethic,” Walter says. “Are they collaborative? Are they intellectually curious? We get an idea of who a student is, and that begins to help us define which students are most likely to succeed and ultimately thrive at BU.” 

Admissions also strongly considers the quality of the two essays required of applicants. The first is an essay prompt from the Common App (these range from expounding on a hobby to recounting a time that you faced a challenge or failure and what you learned). BU then lets students choose from one of two prompts for a second essay, specific to the University: students are asked to either “reflect on a social or community issue that deeply resonates with them or write about what about being a student at BU most excites them and how they hope to contribute to the campus community.”

Walter says she hopes the two essays, taken together, allow students to tell their stories. “We want them to help us understand a little bit who they are, what puts a smile on their face every day,” she says. “Admittedly, we joke with students to ‘Be you’ in their essays. Sometimes students get wrapped up in wanting to impress us with what they’ve accomplished, but [we learn that] from reading their application. The essay is far more personal and reflects a student’s lived experience.”

Walter recalls a recent essay from an applicant who grew up with his grandfather living in the same home. “He talked about how his grandfather never graduated from high school, and yet he was the one that inspired him the most to go to college,” she says. “It’s those kinds of really powerful, but very personal and unique stories which every student has that help us understand who that student is and what they will bring to our community.”

In the admissions team’s outreach to interested students—both virtually and in person—Walter says she hears many reasons why BU is so attractive, among them its location, diversity, global connections, position in the marketplace, and employability rankings. “Those attributes resonate with students because they speak volumes about the quality of the education they will receive at BU,” she says. “But what I hear most frequently from students is that our 10 schools and colleges make BU feel like a small college within the setting of a large university. 

“And despite our size, they feel like BU cares about them as an individual.”