Boston University is a robust law school whose ranking can belie its selectivity. The school has a strong sense of identity, a progressive leaning that it makes clear in its application materials, and the ability and inclination to turn away droves of people who are clearly counting it as a safety school. To maximize your chances of BU, you need to demonstrate your specific desire and fit (and don't think of it as interchangeable with its competitor Boston College).

There's a lot to like about BU, which offers strong preparation for Big Law careers, bolsters students with multiple forms of mentorship and community, and scores as one of the very top schools in the country for health law (and a heavyweight in tax as well). It features, and explicitly recruits, a diverse student body.

BU Law offers access to the rich Boston-area legal network; the name has national and international recognition; it's known for having a fun, social community that is mutually supportive rather than cutthroat. If you're interested in practicing law in East Coast cities, BU likely belongs on your school list.

More specifically, we can say there are three reasons why you'd want to go to BU:

Everyone knows that, if you want to do Big Law, it's best to place into the T14 or go to school in New York. If neither of those pan out, BU might be one of your best bets. Its Big Law placement hovers near 40%, the median salary for graduates is high, and its ranking on lists like "best law schools for Big Law" consistently beats its overall US News ranking. Hit the ground running during 1L and a great corporate law position is a very achievable dream.

The second reason is totally different: current BU Law Dean Angela Onwuachi-Willig is a leading critical race legal scholar. Where other schools (including nearby Harvard) at least superficially weakened their diversity-seeking language and policies in response to SFFA v. Harvard and Trump Administration pressure, BU mostly dug in. BU's "Optional Essay" Perspective prompt asks you to speak directly about your "knowledge about bias, cross-cultural competency, and racism." BU offers the ASPIRE anti-racist scholarship and Above the Law reports that BIPOC representation is (in 2026) just over 43%. Students looking to see an explicit commitment to diversity reflected in their law school administration have reason to favor BU.

The last reason is Boston. It's a busy, robust, sports-loving, university-rich, somewhat drab city that has that big-city feel on a level a good deal more manageable than New York (although if you stay in Boston, you'll want to own a car — and then deal with driving in Boston). About half of BU's class stays in Massachusetts, the state with the best healthcare and education in the country. A note about practicing law in Boston: law offices in Boston hate being seen as stepping-stones to New York. They hate investing resources in training a summer/first year associate only to lose them to a larger legal market. New England roots and family connections in Boston go a long way in reassuring hiring managers that you'll stick around. Now that Big Law recruitment happens so early, expect BU AOs to be looking for those who can make the case that they're coming to stay, even if one-fifth of BU's class does traditionally leave for NYC.

The best applicants to BU probably combine two of those three reasons: the future corporate lawyer who uses their summer associate salary to buy season tickets to the Celtics, the equity-activist committed to improving access to legal services in Boston's faltering satellite cities, the Big Law lawyer committed to racial-justice pro bono work.