Course Search (through Summer 2024)

Please note: Course Search can be used to find courses up to and including the summer 2024 semesters. For the fall 2024 semester and beyond, please refer to the Class Search tool in MyBU student.

Course Search is a tool that allows you to search the entire database of Boston University courses (7,000+). You can search by keywords, and you can filter your search by semester, by college, and/or by Hub areas(s) covered in the course.

By default, you will see options to search by keyword(s) and semester. Click on “Additional Search Options” for more search filters, including school or college, number of credits the course carries, Hub area or areas, and Hub Pathways.

When you search by keyword, the tool is searching the course description blurb to see if it contains those words. For example, if you enter “art history” in the keywords box, your search will generate a list of all courses that have “art” and “history” in the course description blurb.

If you want to see all of the courses with “art history” that will be offered at some point in the future, then you would select “Future Semesters” in the semester box. This kind of search is helpful for long-term planning. If you want to search for courses offered in a specific semester, you would select which semester you wanted in the search box and click the magnifying glass to run the search. You would then get a list of courses about art history being offered in your selected semester.

By default, the search looks for courses within all schools and colleges. If you wanted to limit your search to courses offered by a particular school or college, you would check off that box. For instance, if you checked “CAS,” the list produced would display only courses offered within the College of Arts & Sciences.

Once you’ve run a search, each course listing you see is expandable. Click on a listing to see more information about the course, including any prerequisites, the description of the course, and how many credits the course carries. If the course carries Hub units, you will see the Hub symbol on the right side of the listing. When you expand the course listing, you will see which Hub unit or units the course carries.

If you wanted to search for all courses that carry the BU Hub unit “Aesthetic Exploration,” you would click “Additional Search Options,” select that area, and then click the magnifying glass to run the search.

If you wanted to search for “Aesthetic Exploration” courses that also carry “Creativity/Innovation,” you would choose “all” in the first drop-down box, select both areas, and run the search.

If you wanted to search for courses that carry either “Aesthetic Exploration” or “Creativity/Innovation,” you would choose “any” in the first drop-down box, select both areas, and run the search.

If you wanted to search for courses that fall under a Hub Pathway, select one of the pathway options in the drop-down box under the BU Hub Pathways section.

Remember that you have the option of designating the semester of offering and the colleges you are searching.

At the bottom of each expanded listing, if the course is being offered in the semester you are searching, you will see a link about any scheduled sections of the course. Click the link for more information, including the number of open seats, the instructor, the meeting location, and the meeting schedule.

For a video tutorial on how to use Course Search, click here.