Graduate Information


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Applications for Spring and Fall 2025 are open.

We welcome your application to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences! All applications and supporting documents may be submitted through our convenient online application.  

Applicants should apply by the deadlines listed below.  Applicants who have obtained a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree are welcome to apply to any of the programs offered by the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Graduate Record Exam (GRE)

In order to better support you, we are making the GRE more accessible. For our programs that require a GRE score, we will accept the GRE General Test at Home for our Spring 2024 and Fall 2024 applicants. Please send your official score report through ETS with our institution code 3087. You do not need to designate department or program codes and may therefore leave these fields blank. If the system requires you to enter a program code for any reason, you may use “0000” for the GRE.

GRS Statement on Holistic Admissions

The admissions committee of each of our graduate programs will be looking, as always, at the entire transcript and the cumulative GPA in their evaluation as well as additional test scores, recommendations, and personal statements, as required by specific programs. We encourage applicants to include special circumstances as well as achievements that may not be apparent due to modified grading policies in their personal statements.  This policy has been adopted to ensure that applicants are not differentially evaluated by admissions committee due to the varied impact of COVID-19 on individuals and/or due to the specific grading policies of their colleges/universities.

Statement on the use of Generative AI 

As an innovative research institution, Boston University encourages the exploration of new technologies and recognizes the growing importance of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. However, the Office of Admissions believes that the most insightful and compelling personal statements and writing samples are representative of the author’s authentic voice, research, and effort—a nuance that generative AI tools have not yet achieved.

If you elect to use these tools at any point while writing your essays or producing any other material for your admissions application, they should only be used to support your original ideas rather than to compose your work in its entirety.

As potential future BU graduate students, we expect all applicants to adhere to the same standards of academic honesty as our current students, who are expected to act with integrity when producing academic work and to abide by the University’s Academic Conduct Code. 

If you have any questions, please contact the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Admissions Office by e-mail at grsmams@bu.edu or by phone at 617-353-2696.

When creating your account, please be sure to use a permanent, non-school-related email address. You will be contacted through the email address you use to create the account, and correspondence may occur after your access to a school-related email account is disabled.

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Program application deadlines at a glance


Additional application requirements by department

 

If you are a current undergraduate at Boston University looking to apply for a BA/MA or BA/MS program, please apply online.