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Boston University Profile

Boston, Massachusetts

Boston University Profile

Boston University was established in 1839 as a private institution offering educational programs in liberal arts & sciences, business, and research. The university is composed of 11 undergraduate, and 15 graduate schools within the City of Boston’s Kenmore Square neighborhood adjacent to the Charles River. Boston University’s network of private educational facilities offer comprehensive undergraduate, and graduate programs in several different fields including biological sciences, business, public health, performing arts, sports management, business, and social work. BU prepares students for careers in the above-mentioned 11 undergraduate schools through educational, and certificate programs. The school itself is located within 2 blocks of Fenway Park, which makes it a student friendly spot, not to mention the surrounding schools across the river in Cambridge.

The university is unique because it’s located within the center of Boston’s academic neighborhood of Back Bay, Kenmore Square, Cambridge, and Brookline. The area is also unique for it’s cobble stone streets and revered Colonial Style Brownstones lining several of BU’s surrounding streets. The school is very spread out geographically for a city school with facilities starting on Beacon Street to the east and continuing along Commonwealth Ave down to Alcorn Street to the west. The northern point of the campus footprint lies on Storrow Memorial Drive along the Charles River, the southern edge of campus lies on Commonwealth Ave in the heart of Kenmore Square. BU also has several nature preserves including the Back Bay Conservation Area off Park Drive to the southeast of the campus.

As you can see, the university’s footprint is large for a private city school with 132 acres. BU’s educational landscape offers students a professional education while still allowing students to enjoy a close-knit city community. The Kenmore Square campus offers students a college town community without boundaries within one of the nation’s most popular cities. The campus has approximately 349 buildings including lecture, residential, research, studio, resource centers, and dining facilities. The internal campus setting also provides students, employees, and alumni with several types of services including health, physical fitness, library, cultural meeting places, and several large green areas.

The issue of student housing on campus is not a challenge for Boston University because the school actively competes for local real estate resources within the general area of the university to help students enjoy campus life. BU has purchased several local residence buildings and commercial properties over the years to convert into new academic, and residential facilities for students to enjoy. Student housing at BU is guaranteed for all 4 years. The school has students living in several different types of facilities with approximately 66% of students living on campus.

The physical layout of BU’s campus is unique to a city school because the facility has no manmade barriers to the campus along Commonwealth Ave, and only has one set of metal gates in the rear of campus along Storrow Memorial Drive. This type of physical layout allows students easy access to campus facilities along Commonwealth Ave including the Green “T” Line. The school uses natural waist high stonewalls as natural barriers for entrance to the green areas of the campus. BU is a city school that has several large concrete plazas that welcome students and parents to the area including Marsh Chapel, and the George Sherman Student Union. Another interesting observation about this educational community is the students themselves. Boston University is a very mixed community with local residents, students, tourists, and commercial facilities all within a 10-block radius. You will find a large number of students wearing BU apparel, but you also have local residents embracing the city culture by not relieving school colors.

BU has developed student housing on the south, west, and north sides of the campus landscape to provide facilities in close proximity to several green areas, lecture halls, athletic fields, and the student union. This type of footprint allows for easy access to all of BU’s student life facilities. BU is a large city school that is linked to Boston on a 24-hour basis including government buildings & services, music & theatre productions, sporting & cultural events, museums, nightlife, and restaurants. BU’s Kenmore Square location also allows students to enjoy natural landscapes within a city environment while having the ability to engage in professional activities and learning.

The internal campus setting provides students and employees with several types of student services including physical fitness, library services, and cultural meeting places and dining halls. Boston University’s observed focal points of reference during the campus tour were the row of academic buildings along Commonwealth Ave including the Fine Arts Building and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. The Sherman Student Union adjacent to Mugar Library was also full of students enjoying the large food court during my daytime visit. The west end of campus off Commonwealth also has several campus life facilities including the Case Athletic, and BU’s fitness center for students to enjoy. These areas are the main internal student life facilities at BU. Students use these multi-story facilities to socialize and talk about school and life.

BU’s external focal points can be found along Commonwealth Ave & Beacon Street with students enjoying several small restaurants and food trucks within a very short walk from campus. Students also enjoy the “T Line” Trolley along the main line for transportation links to everything Boston because the train is located at their doorsteps. Finally, students at Boston University enjoy a large green area behind Marsh Chapel called “The Beach”. The beach has no sand, but it does have a great view of the Charles River along the Sorrow Drive Highway. These exterior meeting places were full of students enjoying the city landscape during my visit.

The published demographic information for the university describes a culturally diverse student population with students from all across the world. Boston University has developed several different schools, within it’s educational network to offer students a Liberal Arts and Science, Research, and a Comprehensive education format to enhance it’s commitment to different types of career endeavors. The university has also developed independent affiliates with several global universities to highlight it’s commitment to global learning. Below is a description of demographics for BU’s campus in Boston Massachusetts.

Boston University: The university is home to approximately 7,100 male, and 10,300 female full time, and 680 male, and 640 female part time students. BU also has a large graduate school population with 5,700 male, and 6,600 female students enrolled. The average age of a freshman is 19 years old. 77% of students are from out of state, mostly the northeast States. Students on campus provide a diverse multi-cultural makeup including students from 50 states, 135 foreign countries, and Canada. 34% of BU students are Catholic, 23% are Protestant, 13% are Jewish, and 20% claim no religious affiliation. 60% of students are white, 10% are African American, 13% Asian Americans, and 8% are Hispanic.

Published Academic Standards for Admission Programs

Boston University has a large educational system for a private school, which offers 11 undergraduate programs. Below is a list of under graduate admission requirements.

Freshman Class: 31,851 applied, 18,578 accepted, 4,124 enrolled. SAT Verbal 680, SAT Math 690. ACT 29 Application Deadline: January 1.

Student Housing

The purpose of student housing is to provide safe and reasonable accommodations for students living away from home. The issue of housing and dormitory life is a critical element of overall campus life because students spend a large amount of time in their rooms. Student housing units historically come in 3 different styles including traditional corridor, suite, and apartment style units.

Boston University guarantees housing for all 4 years to students who have filed their intent to reside on campus by the stated deadline. Housing is available through a lottery system for upper classman who have continuously registered as full time students. BU currently has 10,616 students living on campus, which is approximately 66% of it’s students. Housing resources on campus are situated within several different villages including the North Campus along Bay State Road, the South Campus along Buswell Street, and the upper classmen housing with the West Campus off Babcock Street. Information about housing can be found on the quick links page of this document. Off Campus Housing: Boston University has been described as a mini-city situated within a mixed residential and commercial community in Boston. The reason I have mentioned the overall community of Kenmore Square is to re-assert the point that BU’s network of affiliated campuses has encapsulated it’s real estate holdings within the area. The campus footprint allows almost every student to have housing within walking distance to the campus. The demand for housing, especially off campus housing is usually a tough issue for institutions attempting to keep students within the general geographical area. Boston University has addressed this issue by buying up residential buildings and developing housing networks. Information about off campus housing can be found on the BU’s quick links page of this document.

Campus Life

Boston University is a multi-cultural campus environment that provides students with an excellent social, and educational atmosphere. The admissions demographics paint a picture of a very diverse community with students from all over the world. The local community of Kenmore Square only adds to the university’s international status because the community has multi-cultural roots as well. BU also addresses the issue of ecology in a positive way. The physical environment is reasonably clean and well maintained and the economic conditions are favorable to students and local residents due to the available services in walking distance to the school.

The emotional climate and culture of the entire Boston University community is a combination of intellectual and social due to it’s close relationship with the overall community of Kenmore Square and Back Bay. The school’s mature student population, educational, and athletic resources makes BU an attractive institution because it offers students real world professional experiences in Boston, while providing social relationships with local organizations and community groups through student activities for everyone to enjoy throughout the year.

The university also thrives on it’s physical and intellectual relationships with several local colleges and universities including Boston College, and Northeastern University located in nearby Chestnut Hill and the Back Bay section of Boston. These schools connect to each other on the Green “T” Line as part of Boston’s mass transit system. Students at BU can also enjoy student life in Cambridge, which is across the Charles River along Back Bay. Harvard and MIT are located in this student friendly location. Students flock to Boston each year to enjoy the city campus lifestyle in regard to activities, socialization, theatre, sports, history, and affordable housing resources. The City of Boston can be considered one the nations main college cities because it has several distinguished institutions, and a mass transit system that can connects them to the Boston cityscape.

This issue of school culture is also a very important part of campus life because everyone wants to have a connection and emotional fit to their new school and community. BU has done a great job developing positive social systems with it’s students by providing a series of coordinated programs including workshops and seminars for freshman students to advance their studies. This type of process provides a foundation for learning and personal growth providing over 400 academic clubs, student organizations, and over 46 intramural sports activities. BU also has a strong Greek presence on campus with 3% of it’s male students belonging to 8 national fraternities, and 5% of it’s female students belonging to 9 national sororities.

Campus life at BU is more than academic excellence; it’s about building personal relationships with students and facility that continues throughout each student’s career. The school also offers students the ability to enjoy school sports, performing arts, history, cultural events, restaurants, and local museums. For example, Boston has hundreds of venues to enjoy the previously stated activities including the theatre district, Boston Garden, Fenway Park, Boston Commons, and Harvard Square. BU also has a strong athletic footprint on campus with several large venues for students to participate in, or to cheer for. Boston University participates in 26 NCAA Division I varsity sports for women and men and the overall exercise facilities within the campus are fantastic with students enjoying the recreation center on a daily basis.

Public Transportation

Boston University has developed a student shuttle system that connects students with several areas of Kenmore Square including Boston’s transit system through several different shuttle bus routes. In formation about this service can be found on the quick links page of this document. The Boston Transit Authority (MBTA) has several trolley stops on Commonwealth Ave in the heart of BU’s campus. This valuable train service connects to all of Boston’s transit lines and regional train services for Amtrak and Logan Airport.

Regional Public transportation resources can be found within Back Bay, North, and South Stations that link with trains to suburban Massachusetts, lines to Rhode Island (Providence), and New Hampshire commuter service through (MBTA). Amtrak also uses North Station as a major hub within it’s Northeast Corridor. This complex train system also allows riders the ability to travel to downtown Boston and Logan Airport in a matter of minutes. People who live, work, and visit Boston usually travel by some type of mass transit. Students should be encouraged to purchase a metro card to get around. Mass transit information can be found at: www.mbta.com

Boston itself is located within close proximity to the 4 northeastern states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire, which make it convenient to several suburban communities and highway networks. The city itself also has several main roadways that connect the community to major state highways including the Mass Turnpike (Route 90) and Routes 91 & 84 that links Boston and suburban Massachusetts and Rhode Island to Route 95, which is the main highway corridor on the eastern seaboard. Shopping, restaurants, and national hotel chains can be found within these major transportation networks after a short drive from the campus.

Community Profile

The Kenmore Square of Boston Massachusetts has been described in different ways, including a busy student friendly urban community centered around it’s local university and a tourist heaven due to it’s geographical location within the City of Boston. Kenmore Square has a relatively high number of restaurants, retail, and entertainment resources within the area. The area can also be considered an upscale residential community with historic brownstones, town homes, and modern apartments buildings lining several streets. BU is also situated in walking distance to Fenway Park, which makes it a very active community for local residents, tourists, and students throughout the baseball season. Student population and historical neighborhood architecture can be found mainly within 10 blocks of the main academic buildings within the overall neighborhood. The greatest number of residents in this area is in fact students, and employees of BU.

Kenmore Square can also be considered a commuter area because large numbers of local residents travel to downtown Boston to work. The Suburbs, and local neighborhoods of Boston are a maze of cultures that are unique to the people who live and work in them; Back Bay Boston is no exception. Kenmore Square/Back Bay can be considered a mixed residential area because you have commercial, residential, cultural, and intellectual all within the same block with people walking through the BU campus on their way to work, or home. The areas around Commonwealth and Beacon Streets are the major pedestrian walkways in the neighborhood for students, residents, tourists, and commuters because it’s really in the middle of the community.

Community demographics: The following demographics for Boston Massachusetts describe a multi-cultural community within a total population of 590,763 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A Census Bureau community survey highlights several characteristics to describe the population including: 48% of residents are male, 52% are female. 56% of residents are white, 26% are African American, 8% are Hispanic or Latino, and finally 8% are Asian. The median age of population is 33 years old. 81% of residents are 18 years old or over, 74% age 21 and over, and finally 10% of city residents are over the age of 65. The issue of housing in Boston is also interesting. 91% of all housing units within the city are occupied. 62% of housing units are renter-occupied, while 38% of units are owner-occupied.

Local weather

Weather is also an issue to consider for students preparing for a university experience. Massachusetts enjoys all four seasons of weather including rain and snow. Northeast weather patterns sometimes allow for temperatures to drop below 32 degrees for a considerable amount of time during the winter. The City of Boston also gets it’s share of rain during the spring and summer months as well.

Boston University Quick Links Page

The Your College Profile web site also contains an “Everything in Boston” document for families who wish to explore the City of Boston while visiting Boston University. This site contains a full list of hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment, and tourism resources for families enjoying the region. Below is a sample list of local hotels and restaurants in the Back Bay Area of the city.

Fairmont Copley Plaza Hotel
138 Saint James Ave
Boston MA 02116
Four Seasons Hotel Boston
200 Boylston Street
Boston MA 02116
Taj Hotel Boston
15 Arlington Street
Boston MA 02116
Colonnade Hotel
120 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02116
Courtyard by Marriott Copley Sq
47 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02116
Marriott at Copley Place
110 Huntington Ave
Boston MA 02116
Ritz-Carlton Boston Commons
10 Avery Street
Boston MA 02111
Omni Parker House Hotel
60 School Street
Boston MA 02108

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