Is Boston University or Cornell harder to get into overall?

Cornell is harder to get into overall than Boston University. Both are selective, but Cornell sits in a more competitive tier nationally, and applicants typically need a stronger overall profile to be realistic there. That is especially true because Cornell is an Ivy League school and draws a very large pool of highly qualified applicants across its colleges.

Boston University is still a reach for many students, but it is usually not as difficult to enter as Cornell. In practice, a student who looks competitive for BU may still be well below the bar for Cornell, especially if their academics, testing, or extracurricular impact are solid but not exceptional.

One reason people get mixed impressions is that both schools review applicants in context, and Cornell has several undergraduate colleges with somewhat different admissions dynamics. Some Cornell programs are especially competitive, while BU also has certain schools and majors that can be tougher than BU overall. But if you are asking about the universities as a whole, Cornell is the more selective of the two.

For building a college list, it makes sense to think of Cornell as a higher-reach option. BU can also be a reach, but for many applicants it falls a step below Cornell in overall admissions difficulty.