Bostrom was an undergraduate student at the University of Washington, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English.

She moved to Western Washington University for a master's degree in business administration.

[1] She then started doctoral research in public policy analysis at Carnegie Mellon University.

She remained at Carnegie Mellon for a postdoctoral position, before moving to the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C..[1] Bostrom joined the faculty at the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1992.

Georgia Tech made Bostrom the Associate Dean for Research in 2004, and then a professor in 2007.