Boston is, in some ways, a big college town. Okay, yes, it is also a major American city. Honestly, it offers the best of both, and Boston University is part of that magic. If you are looking for an urban campus that doesn’t feel too overwhelming, Boston University should be on your list. Often just called BU, the school is integrated right into the city (or should we say, integrated right into The Town).
BU is known for great research opportunities, an impressively long list of academic programs across 17 schools and colleges, awesome study abroad options, and a lively campus. BU is also one of those schools that has become much more competitive in recent years. They receive a truly staggering amount of applications (usually over 75k). Okay, popular. Last year, their acceptance rate was only about 11%.
If you are serious about getting into BU, you have to be the whole package. Thankfully, we can help. We work with students every day to make sure they are the kinds of applicants that will impress BU. This means strategically planned classes, impressive activities, dynamic planning, and, of course, outstanding essays. (BU is still test-optional, but great scores wouldn’t hurt either). Wherever you are in your college application process, we have you covered. Reach out today!
While we highly recommend working with a professional if you are applying to competitive colleges like BU, we also wanted to share some tricks for tackling the BU supplement.
What about being a student at BU most excites you? (300 Max)
If we have done our jobs right, this will be a very easy essay to write.
There are two steps you need to take before even trying to start this essay. The first is having a solid plan for what you want to study in college and experiences that back up that plan. We often start with students as early as freshman year to build resumes that support their academic goals. For example, we had a student who wanted to major in finance at BU and eventually become an investment banker. We made sure that he took summer classes, interned at a hedge fund, and competed in a student stock market competition.
The second step is research. You should know all about opportunities at BU. This includes classes, professors, research opportunities, clubs, etc. Everything should feel specific to BU.
Once you have your own experiences and the opportunities at BU, your job is to connect them. This essay needs to show the overlap between your interests/goals and what BU offers. Ideally, it should leave the reader thinking that you would be the perfect BU student and that BU is the perfect place for you. Think of this essay like a Venn diagram. We want to see the overlap.
We suggest starting with academics because academics come first in college, but after that, you can talk about clubs, extracurriculars, or other BU-specific opportunities outside the classroom. Just remember anything you mention should feel connected to you and your interests.
Our finance major connected classes like ESG Equity Investing to a non-profit that he helped raise funds for. He hoped to work with a professor whose research connected to an investment internship he had completed the summer before. He also spoke about joining the co-ed hockey team and connected it to playing on his school’s field hockey team.
Additional Information (optional): Please use this space if you have additional information, materials, or writing samples you would like us to consider.
Boston University also allows you to upload additional materials. We would suggest doing this sparingly. Really ask yourself, “Is the thing that I am going to add elevating my application?” And be demure and mindful about giving your reader a lot of extra work.
That said, many materials can work really well here. Past students of ours have submitted research abstracts, articles they have published, patents, resumes, creative writing, and more. If you have never written a poem before, this isn’t the time to try it out for the first time. However, we had a hopeful English major who already had several poems published and added a couple of her best to this section as a PDF.
Often when we start working with students before senior year, we push them to do research and use what they have published here. This is a great place to share some of that high-quality research. If your paper is very long, consider only uploading the abstract or a summary of the work.
BU’s supplement may look simple, but with only an 11% acceptance rate, you need to use this space strategically. If you don’t know where to start, we can help.
Contact us today to work with a dedicated counselor.