How do I appeal my Boston University decision

Answered

Hi, I think this cycle there are record numbers of applicants got rejected compared to previous cycles because BU decided a month ago that it would deliberately reduce the amount of admits/matriculates so that it can revert back to a what they view a normal enrollment both for housing and dining and classroom size. For 3 semesters, BU had been bursting at the seams for overcrowding in all 3 areas, and decided with their Board of Trustees blessing to cut off the admits at some mathematical formula which took into account the expected yield. The didn't publish the number but my guess was +/-10,000 versus 13884 last cycle. So there are at least another 3884 students that would have perhaps been admitted if BU had the room. Last year the yield rate was 29% (4023/13884).

Given that over 70000 applicants didn't get into BU, I'm not sure there is a formal appeals process since they clearly wanted to limit the enrollment pool to 3200.

During this past ED cycle they accepted 1620/6311 (25.66%) or 50.6% of the total admit pool. So if you do some quick math, they needed to only admit 5400 RD which would result in a 1580 more cohorts if the yield rate held to 29%.

Until BU officially releases how many people they admitted for RD, no one will know the whole story of BU admissions this year. A month ago, I wrote in a discussion post that rates might be in the 12% range vs. 18.3 last year but I didn't really think too much about the fact that they had already filled 50.6% of their 2026 class. So 12% might be high.

Good luck with your other colleges. And remember you can always transfer into similar schools like BC, NYU, Tufts etc after you enroll in another college.

((There is an update today 3/29 that BU enrolled 14.15% which means they hedged themselves way too much by over admitting))