Boston University: Narrative Description

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BOSTON UNIVERSITY D-12

Boston, MA 02215
Tel: (617)353-2000
Admissions: (617)353-2300
Fax: (617)353-9695
E-mail: [email protected]
Web Site: http://www.bu.edu/

Description:

Independent, university, coed. Awards bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and first professional degrees and post-master's and first professional certificates. Founded 1839. Setting: 132-acre urban campus. Endowment: $712.3 million. Research spending 2003-04: $218.8 million. Educational spending 2003-04: $19,796 per student. Total enrollment: 29,596. Faculty: 3,514 (2,521 full-time, 993 part-time). Student-undergrad faculty ratio is 15:1. 23,240 applied, 67% were admitted. 60% from top 10% of their high school class, 92% from top quarter, 100% from top half. 108 valedictorians. Full-time: 16,386 students, 60% women, 40% men. Part-time: 1,354 students, 47% women, 53% men. Students come from 54 states and territories, 103 other countries, 77% from out-of-state, 0.4% Native American, 5% Hispanic, 2% black, 13% Asian American or Pacific Islander, 7% international, 3% 25 or older, 74% live on campus, 1% transferred in. Retention: 85% of full-time freshmen returned the following year. Academic areas with the most degrees conferred: social sciences and history; communications/communication technologies; business/marketing. Core. Calendar: semesters. ESL program, services for LD students, advanced placement, accelerated degree program, self-designed majors, honors program, independent study, distance learning, double major, summer session for credit, part-time degree program, adult/continuing education programs, co-op programs and internships, graduate courses open to undergrads. Off campus study at Boston College, Brandeis University, Hebrew College, Tufts University. Study abroad program. ROTC: Army, Naval, Air Force.

Entrance Requirements:

Options: Peterson's Universal Application, Common Application, electronic application, early admission, early decision, deferred admission, international baccalaureate accepted. Required: essay, high school transcript, 2 recommendations, SAT or ACT. Recommended: minimum 3.0 high school GPA, SAT II: Writing Test. Required for some: interview, audition, portfolio, SAT Subject Tests, SAT II: Writing Test. Entrance: very difficult. Application deadlines: 1/1, 11/1 for early decision. Notification: continuous until 4/15, 12/15 for early decision.

Costs Per Year:

Application fee: $70. Comprehensive fee: $40,082 includes full-time tuition ($29,988), mandatory fees ($414), and college room and board ($9680). College room only: $6180. Full-time tuition and fees vary according to class time and degree level. Room and board charges vary according to board plan and housing facility. Part-time tuition: $937 per credit. Part-time mandatory fees: $40 per term. Part-time tuition and fees vary according to class time, course load, and degree level.

Collegiate Environment:

Orientation program. Drama-theater group, choral group, marching band, student-run newspaper, radio station. Social organizations: 380 open to all; national fraternities, national sororities; 4% of eligible men and 6% of eligible women are members. Most popular organizations: performing and acappella groups, cultural organizations, service organizations, student government, residence hall associations. Major annual events: Head of the Charles River Regatta, Homecoming Weekend, World Fair. Student services: health clinic, personal-psychological counseling, women's center. Campus security: 24-hour emergency response devices and patrols, late night transport-escort service, controlled dormitory access, security personnel at residence hall entrances, self-defense education, well-lit sidewalks. College housing designed to accommodate 10,818 students; 10,914 undergraduates lived in college housing during 2003-04. Freshmen guaranteed college housing. On-campus residence required in freshman year. Options: coed, women-only housing available. Mugar Memorial Library plus 18 others with 2.3 million books, 4.5 million microform titles, 30,067 serials, 72,153 audiovisual materials, an OPAC, and a Web page. Operations spending 2003-04: $17.4 million. 750 computers available on campus for general student use. Computer purchase/lease plans available. A campuswide network can be accessed from student residence rooms and from off campus. Staffed computer lab on campus.

Community Environment:

Historic capital of Massachusetts, Boston is a contrast of past and present with broad avenues disappearing into crooked, narrow streets of colonial Boston. Modern stores and buildings stand next to Revolutionary shrines. With one in every five residents a college student, Boston is America's ultimate college town.

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Boston University: Narrative Description

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