GRS actively seeks to recruit and retain students who reflect the diversity of the local and global communities it serves.

• GRS offers admission counseling on all aspects of the application process and serves as a resource to all prospective students.

• GRS offers application fee waivers to all qualifying students:
  
  • M.A./M.S. waiver
  • Ph.D./M.F.A. waiver
• GRS sponsors and participates in various national networks, recruitment events, conferences, and associations that foster diversity and inclusion at the graduate level. The list includes:
  • Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students (ABRCMS)
  • The California Forum for Diversity in Graduate Education
  • Grace Hopper Celebration
  • The Institute for Recruitment of Teachers
  • Leadership Brainery 
  • McNair Scholars Program
    
  • Scientista Symposium
  • Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS)
    

   

GRS strives to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment for all of our students. We encourage and support student participation in the following organizations through the wide range of opportunities offered for diversity programming, professional development, academic support, and cultural and social engagement.

• The Graduate Student Organization is the official representative body of the graduate students in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston University. They hold coffee hours for underrepresented groups looking for support, guidance, and community.
• The Center for Antiracist Research, founded by Professor of History Ibram X. Kendi, aims to convene researchers and practitioners from various disciplines to figure out novel and practical ways to understand, explain, and solve seemingly intractable problems of racial inequity and injustice. They foster exhaustive racial research, research-based policy innovation, data-driven educational and advocacy campaigns, and narrative-change initiatives. They are working toward building an antiracist society that ensures equity and justice for all.
• Minority Connection Initiative is a student-founded organization bringing together students, faculty, and staff who identify as racial minorities. They hold recurring events and connect underrepresented students with faculty mentors.
• The Boston University chapter of oSTEM (Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) is part of a nonprofit professional society focused on LGBTQ people in the STEM community. They work to educate and foster leadership among LGBTQIAPP+ students in the STEM fields across the university.
• Queer Activist Collective promotes awareness, visibility, and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community here at BU. They gather weekly to discuss how to make our campus a safer, more inclusive space.
• The Trans and Nonbinary Listening Circle meets weekly, giving nonbinary, trans, and ally students a place to talk about issues affecting themselves and the wider communities.
• The Underrepresented Graduate Student Organization offers opportunities for socializing and support at Boston University. They also promote and organize discussions throughout the semester.
• BU offers over 400 undergraduate and graduate student organizations for students’ academic, service, and social interests. These include over 40 culture-based groups, such as Umoja (the black student union), the International Students Association, and Alianza Latina. You can find a comprehensive list on BU’s official Student Group Search.

 

   

• ARROWS: Advance, Recruit, Retain & Organize Women in STEM helps women pursuing careers in STEM fields find research opportunities, funding, and support across the university. It can also help with networking and mentoring needs.
  
• Boston University Women’s Guild is composed of faculty, staff, trustees, and friends of BU who come together to support women graduate students at the University, among other initiatives. They offer events throughout the year, including seminars, workshops, performances, and meetups.
• Center for Gender, Sexuality, and Activism at BU is a safe space on campus for people of all genders and sexualities. The group does advocacy on campus and in the surrounding community in pursuit of full equality and inclusion of women, queer, and trans students and people.
• Graduate Women in Science & Engineering (GWISE) at Boston University strives to create a community to support and promote women in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. Through professional development seminars and workshops, social events, mentoring, and outreach, GWISE fosters interaction across all disciplines at BU and connects graduate students to postdocs, faculty, and broader networks in Boston and beyond. Women in Physics (WIP) is an extension of this group’s work tailored to students in that field.
• The Howard Thurman Center for Common Ground brings students together to learn about each other and themselves while discussing the issues of today. Join them for a book club, art exhibits, and other community events as members partake in our shared human search for common ground.
• The National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) provides online career development and mentoring resources for graduate students. The College & Graduate School of Arts & Sciences joined for a pilot year in 2018. You can find out more about GRS’ involvement with NCFDD and how you can start utilizing those resources here.
• The Newman Catholic Center at BU, BU Hillel, Islamic Society of BU, and the BU Hindu Students Council are among the various campus religious groups that offer students a place to express their faith freely. You can find a full list on the Student Group directory.
• Women’s Professional Development Committee provides a supportive space to host professional development opportunities for graduate-level women in science at Boston University through establishing and cultivating a network of exemplary mentorship with women in a diversity of scientific careers.