More than 64,400 students applied to Boston University for the Class of 2022, breaking the applicant record that was set last year. Making up almost seven percent of the total applicant pool are the students who applied via Early Decision 1 and Early Decision 2, who also set a new record, for most early decision applicants to BU ever.
This year, 4,492 students applied via early decision, which is an eight percent increase from last year, according to Kelly Walter, the associate vice president for enrollment and executive director of admissions at BU.
ED2 was added as an option for applicants to BU three years ago, Walter said. In the three years that ED2 has been available, the number of overall ED applicants to BU has increased by 20.5 percent. The number of ED2 applicants has grown from 1,698 applicants to 2,047 applicants this year.
Walter said the number of ED applicants has increased by nearly 10 percent for the College of Arts and Sciences, by 32 percent for the School of Hospitality Administration and by nearly six percent for the College of Communication.
BU President Robert Brown wrote in an email that applications to BU for both general admissions and early decision have been steadily increasing for the last decade.
“On average the growth is across almost all of our programs, with the program with the largest growth being different each year,” Brown wrote. “I think it is our mixture of liberal arts and science education with our professional degrees that drives such amazing interest in coming to BU. There is no indication that the growth will stop soon.”
Future COM student Erin Guevara, who was accepted ED1 this year, wrote in a Facebook message that she was advised by her college counselors to apply early decision to BU, as they believed it would give her the best chance of being accepted.
“I think there are advantages to applying early decision as you are not grouped with such a large application pool and you have a greater chance of standing out,” Guevara wrote, “but at the same time, if you are not fully in love with a school, applying ED may not be the best method.”
Walter said the academic quality of the students applying via early decision has increased in recent years.
“Our SAT average for students who applied ED2 is 36 points higher than it was last year,” Walter said. “… GPA has also increased and the average GPA for applicants is 3.46. So basically, an A- student.”
Henry Louris, a freshman in the College of Fine Arts, said BU’s location, size and diversity could be decisive factors that encourage students to apply early decision.
“I think there’s a benefit to it being a university where … we have such a large student body,” Louris said, “and that probably signals to people that there’s more diversity on the campus in the first place because of the sheer number of people.”
CFA freshman Koyuki Yasui said students may be attracted to apply early decision to BU because of its inclusivity.
“In terms of politics, I think BU is very vocal about being inclusive,” Yasui said, “so that definitely contributes to more students being comfortable applying to schools like this.”
Walter said she thinks the trend of more students applying early decision to BU will continue to increase.
“Given the trends that we’ve seen, both in early decision as well as ED2,” Walter said, “I have every reason to believe that we will continue to see an increase in the number of students who want to apply to Boston University early decision, and that’s because more and more students have decided that Boston University is their number one college choice.”
Future CAS student Jennifer L’Heureux, who was accepted via ED1 this year, wrote in a Facebook message that she thinks applying early decision helps distinguish you as an applicant and makes the application process less stressful.
“I think that it is definitely a smaller applicant pool, which helps you to stand out,” L’Heureux wrote. “Also, I think it helps the school to see how devoted you are to attending. The best part, though, is that while everyone else at my high school is stressing about next year, I can relax and just enjoy my second semester.”
