Boston University

765 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215
(617) 353-3100

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National Comparison: Overview of Facts

#1 in Private Sector Salary

BU Law is tied for #1 in terms of the median starting salary among graduates working in private practice as law firm associates ($180,000).

#12 in Library Size

BU Law ranks #12 in terms of library size with 1,107,572 volumes or equivalents.

#19 in Median LSAT

BU Law is tied for #19 in terms of the median LSAT score (166) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students. The LSAT measures reading comprehension, analytical reasoning, and logical reasoning.

#22 in Acceptance Rate

BU Law ranks #22 in terms of student selectivity with an acceptance rate of 25.9% among those who applied for admission.

#26 in Median Undergraduate GPA

BU Law ranks #26 in terms of highest median undergraduate GPA (3.74) among those applicants granted admission who enrolled as full-time students.

#27 in Employment Rate at Graduation

#83 in Employment Rate at 10 Months
BU Law ranks #27 in terms of graduates employed at the time of graduation (64.5%) and #83 in terms of graduates employed ten months after graduation (78.8%).

#34 in Highest Tuition

BU Law ranks #34 in terms of highest tuition among full-time law students ($55,076). We rank from a total of 283 tuition rates from 194 law schools, ranking twice those law schools that have different in-state and out-of-state tuition rates.

#34 in Public Sector Salary

BU Law is tied for #34 in terms of median starting salary among graduates working in government jobs or judicial clerkships at the federal or state level ($60,000).

#40 in Presence of Minority Faculty

BU Law ranks #40 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are racial or ethnic minority (18.3%).

#48 in Bar Passage Rate

BU Law ranks #48 in terms of bar passage rate among first-time test takers (87.4%), and it outperforms by +10.1% the state of Massachusetts’s overall bar passage rate of 77.3%. (A national comparison on this metric should be taken in a qualified sense and with caution, because every state has a different bar passage rate.)

#72 in Presence of Female Faculty

BU Law is tied for #72 in terms of the highest percentage of faculty who are female (42.3%).

#76 in Presence of Minority Students

BU Law ranks #76 in terms of the highest percentage of students who are racial or ethnic minority (36.4%).

#86 in Student to Faculty Ratio

BU Law is tied for #86 in terms of lowest student to faculty ratio (6.8:1).

Fall 2020 Application Information

Application Deadline: April 1
Application Fee: $80

Admissions Statistics

2020 2017
Acceptance Rate 25.9% 37.9%
LSAT Score (Median) 166 162
LSAT Score (25th-75th percentile) 160-167 160-164
GPA (Median) 3.74 3.58
GPA Range (25th-75th percentile) 3.31-3.84 3.41-3.75

Bar Exam Statistics

2020 2017
State in which most graduates took bar exam: MA MA
School's bar passage rate: 87.4% 95.4%
State overall bar passage rate: 77.3% 80.7%
School bar pass rate vs. state bar pass rate: +10.1% +14.7%

Employment Statistics

2020 2017
Graduates employed at graduation: 64.5% 57.7%
Graduates employed 10 months after graduation: 78.8% 80.5%

Tuition and Expenses

2020 2017
Tuition: $55,076 $49,330
Room and Board: $13,775 $12,620
Proportion of full-time students receiving grants: 92.9% 87.4%
Median grant amount among full-time students: $25,000 $20,000
Average indebtedness of those who incurred debt: $111,946 $102,329
Proportion of graduates who incurred debt: 67.8% 72.6%
View National Comparison

Students & Faculty

2020 2017
Total Students: 769 672
Men: 40.7% 45.4%
Women: 59.3% 54.6%
Student Racial Demographics:

White: 63.6% N/A
Black: 4.6% N/A
Hispanic: 12.0% N/A
Asian: 6.6% N/A
Student-to-Faculty Ratio: 6.8 : 1 N/A
Total Faculty: 71 N/A
Male: 57.7% N/A
Female: 42.3% N/A
Minority: 18.3% N/A

Full-Time Starting Salaries

2020 2017
Private Sector (Median): $180,000 $145,000
Public Sector (Median): $60,000 $50,000
View National Comparison

Library Resources

2020 2017
Volumes and equivalents: 1,107,572 1,104,392