Boston University is a top university that offers a special admissions option rare among top schools: Early Decision II. If you missed the ED I deadline, or learned that you were rejected from your top choice school in the EDI round ahead of BU’s EDII deadline of January 6th, applying to BU EDII may be a way for you to gain access to a competitive university. In this post, we’ll break down everything you need to know — and everything you need to do — to get into Boston University in the EDII round.
Boston University accepts as much as 60% of their incoming first-year class through the Early Decision rounds, including EDI and EDII. And applying ED doesn’t mean that you miss out on anything. ED applicants to BU have 100% of their demonstrated need met through financial aid, and are eligible to apply for scholarships. Applying ED also comes with major benefits. The combined acceptance rate for Early Decision I and Early Decision II for first-years starting in the fall of 2023 was 26%. And the rate has gone as high as 34% in recent years. And EDI, importantly for this conversation, doesn’t offer a significant advantage over EDII.
The overall Boston University acceptance rate, for comparison, was 14%, which means the Regular Decision acceptance rate was super low. If BU is your top choice, and you missed the Early Decision I deadline, ED II is your best way into the university. Now, let’s get into how to get an offer of admission.
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As we’ve said, applying ED II is your best way into Boston University after the ED I deadline. To amplify your chances of admission, you’ll want to write your strongest possible application. Your strongest BU application starts in your supplement.
The Supplement
Boston University has two supplements, and the first one of those two has options.
Boston University is dedicated to our founding principles: “that higher education should be accessible to all, and that research, scholarship, artistic creation, and professional practice should be conducted in the service of the wider community—local and international. These principles endure in the University’s insistence on the value of diversity in its tradition and standards of excellence and its dynamic engagement with the City of Boston and the world.” With this mission in mind, please respond to one of the following two questions in 300 words or less:
Option 1: Reflect on a social or community issue that deeply resonates with you. Why is it important to you, and how have you been involved in addressing or raising awareness about it?
This is a great prompt to choose as long as you have a really good answer to the second half of the question — “…how have you been involved in addressing or raising awareness about it?” If you aren’t involved in service, advocacy, or community engagement in any way, this prompt may pose a problem for you. But if you do engage with an issue through service, advocacy, or community engagement, we highly recommend picking this prompt if you do the following.
First, introduce a social or community issue through a story of your engagement in it. This story should be specific and ‘small’. For example, if you are writing about an issue in your community start with a story about a one-on-one interaction with a member of your community who is impacted by this issue (which may even be yourself).
After that introductory story, you need to zoom out and contextualize your involvement with the issue. This is when you show how deep your interest is because you’ve acted. Maybe you’ve researched, interned, volunteered, canvassed, or worked in the field.
Next, and this is absolutely key, you should tie this issue and your interest in it to why you want to go to BU. No, they didn’t ask for this in the prompt. However, including it is important as an EDII applicant. Maybe the issue is related to a major you want to pursue, or minor. Or maybe there is a club or student group at BU that you’d want to join. Be specific. The more detailed you can be in how you’ll engage at BU, the more clearly you will make the case for yourself as an applicant.
Finally, close the supplement by circling back to the initial story you used to start your essay.
Option 2: What about being a student at BU most excites you? How do you hope to contribute to our campus community?
The second option isn’t bad, necessarily, but it doesn’t excite us. This is because you can include how you hope to contribute to the campus community at BU through the first prompt, while also telling them a lot more about yourself than this prompt invites. We advise ED II applicants select Option 1 over this prompt.
Additional Information (optional): Please use this space if you have additional information, materials, or writing samples you would like us to consider. (upload document)
It is really easy to skip over this. It’s optional, and it isn’t specific enough to guide most applicants towards what they should submit. So, most applicants skip it. But you shouldn’t.
If you are applying Early Decision II, you absolutely must submit something for this prompt. What you submit, though, needs to be carefully picked out.
The easy thing to submit is a one-page resume. If you’ve already put one together for other applications, you could submit it here if none of the other (better) options below fit for you. Remember, though, that the resume must be one page and must be tailored to emphasize aspects of your experiences that connect to a) your academic interests or b) illustrate how you’ll be an amazing addition to the BU community.
Things we like more for this supplement are:
A research paper abstract or two (not the whole paper, that’s too much for them to read).
A short story or essay (no more than 3 pages) that you’ve published through a school literary journal, paper, or other publication.
A press clipping about something you organized or contributed to heavily, and that is referenced elsewhere in your application.
Things that shouldn’t go here are art or creative portfolios, lengthy papers, or anything ‘weird’. Yes, that’s vague. It is, however, also descriptive. We’ve heard students argue for submitting some wild stuff. Please don’t. You should also not include any URLs with hopes of them clicking through. That means no personal websites, no YouTube videos, no other links. Keep it all on the document, and make the case for yourself there.
Test Scores
Next up are test scores. Submitting your ACT or SAT scores is optional, but more than 50% of applicants submit scores. However, we advise submitting strong scores to increase your chances of admission EDII, as strong scores underline an impressive application. A competitive GPA, by the way, is 3.8+. And strong scores are a composite SAT or 1450 or higher (composite) or an ACT of 32 or higher.
Common App Essay Changes?
If you were rejected from a top-choice school ED I, it’s possible that your primary essay was a reason why. It’s rare that a student is rejected because of their main essay. However, it is very common for a weak personal essay to not push an “ehhhh” application into the yes pile. In our experience, students who are statistically unlikely to get into a competitive dream school are able to gain access through an exceptional essay. To determine if your essay needs work, take a look at our 2024-2025 Guide to the Common App Essay. You should also read these acceptance-earning essays to get an idea of how to write an essay that stands out from the pack.
Applying to Boston University Early Decision II benefits from time, focus, and strategy. Following these steps will help you on your way, but the best advice comes from one-on-one work, and we highly advise asking for help.
P.S. If you’ve already submitted Regular Decision to Boston University, your application can be converted to Early Decision II.
Each year we help students gain access to top schools through exceptional applications. Email us to learn more.