A private Jesuit research university in Washington, DC, admitting 12.91% of applicants with strong outcomes in government, law, and international affairs.
Washington, District of Columbia
Georgetown University is a private Jesuit Catholic research university in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC, founded in 1789, the oldest Jesuit university and one of the oldest universities in the United States. It enrolls 7,569 undergraduates and 12,198 graduate students across four undergraduate schools: the Georgetown College, the Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS), the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, and the School of Nursing and Health Studies.
Social sciences, foreign languages, biology, and business account for the largest shares of bachelor's degrees. Georgetown holds accreditation through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). All undergraduates complete a Jesuit-informed Core curriculum that includes courses in philosophy, theology, writing, and a distribution requirement across the arts and sciences. Georgetown requires SAT or ACT scores for admission.
Official website: georgetown.edu
UCD scores every college on four pillars: Outcomes, Value, Affordability, and Selectivity. Within peer group A (four-year selective institutions), Georgetown scores 73.69 overall, rated Good. Outcomes (97.73) and Selectivity (96.70) are strong, reflecting a 94.81% six-year graduation rate and ten-year earnings of $103,494. Affordability scores 3.24, the weakest pillar, driven by an average net price of $40,815 that is the highest at any selective private university in this peer group. Value scores 43.53. All scores use verified federal data only.
Georgetown admits 12.91% of applicants, making it highly selective but more accessible than the most competitive Ivy League schools. Georgetown requires SAT or ACT scores; it is not test-optional. Students who enroll typically average 1,487 on the SAT, with the middle 50% ACT range between 31 and 35.
Georgetown's application uses its own supplemental essays rather than the Common App; applicants write directly through the Georgetown application system. The Early Action deadline is November 1 (non-binding); the Regular Decision deadline is January 10. Applicants choose which of Georgetown's four undergraduate schools to apply to; SFS is the most selective, followed by McDonough.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether Georgetown University is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
Georgetown charges $68,017 in tuition plus $20,596 in room and board, bringing the estimated total cost of attendance to approximately $92,000 before aid. Georgetown does not guarantee to meet 100% of demonstrated financial need for all admitted students, which is reflected in a high average net price and a high federal loan rate.
The average net price after all grants and scholarships is $40,815, the highest at any selective private university in this peer group. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $5,064. For families earning between $30,001 and $48,000, the net price averages $12,155. For families earning between $75,001 and $110,000, the net price averages $26,459. For families earning above $110,000, it averages $57,403.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $75 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
Median federal-loan debt at graduation broken down by demographic. Each slice's size is proportional to the dollar amount that group typically borrows.
Georgetown completes a strong majority of the students it enrolls. The six-year graduation rate is 94.81% for full-time, first-time bachelor's-seeking students. The four-year rate is 88.46%, and first-year retention stands at 96.94%. Georgetown's Washington DC location is integral to its outcomes: nearly all undergraduates complete at least one internship in government, policy, international organizations, or the private sector while enrolled.
Georgetown graduates earn above the national median for private research universities. Median earnings are $83,222 six years after first enrolling and $103,494 at ten years. At the ten-year mark, 91.32% of former students earn more than a typical high school graduate.
Georgetown's federal loan rate of 17.88% and median debt of $15,500 reflect the gap between a high sticker price and an aid program that does not fully cover demonstrated need. Law, government, and finance are the dominant post-graduate career paths; Georgetown Law (JD) is a separate graduate program and is not included in these undergraduate earnings figures.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Mean annual earnings 10 years after entry, segmented by demographic. Reveals gaps the headline median can't show.
Median earnings for female grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Median earnings for male grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Earnings of grads from the bottom-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the middle-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the top-third of family incomes at entry.
Share of completer-cohort borrowers paying down at least $1 of principal at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year mark. Climbing rates show graduates settling into careers and managing debt; flat or declining rates are a warning.
Georgetown enrolls 7,569 undergraduates on its Hilltop campus in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC. White students account for 46.11% of undergraduates; Asian 15.44%, Hispanic 5.92%, and Black 4.90%. Georgetown's demographics skew toward higher-income students: only 10.12% of undergraduates receive Pell grants, among the lowest of any selective private university, and 16.06% are first-generation college students. Washington DC provides unparalleled access to federal government agencies, international organizations, think tanks, lobbying firms, and policy-oriented nonprofits for internships and career placement.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at Georgetown University. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
Georgetown University offers an extensive catalog of programs: 136 distinct programs across 25 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
Georgetown operates at an 11:1 student-to-faculty ratio. 47.64% of instruction is delivered by full-time faculty, a notably low figure that reflects Georgetown's deliberate use of government officials, diplomats, lawyers, and practitioners as adjunct faculty, particularly in the Walsh School and Georgetown College's government department. Instructional spending per full-time equivalent student is $37,019 per year. The endowment stands at $3.64 billion, smaller than peer institutions like Cornell ($10.18 billion) or Brown ($6.72 billion), which limits Georgetown's capacity to fund need-based aid.
1,340 instructional faculty across 4 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 472 | 35% | $220,647 |
| Associate Professors | 225 | 17% | $154,968 |
| Assistant Professors | 138 | 10% | $130,078 |
| No Rank | 505 | 38% | $109,102 |
Georgetown's defining strengths are its Washington DC location, the Walsh School of Foreign Service (the most recognized undergraduate international relations program in the country), Outcomes (97.73), and ten-year earnings of $103,494 reflecting the strength of law, government, and finance career pipelines. The challenges are significant: Georgetown's Affordability score (3.24) is the lowest of any school in this peer group. The average net price of $40,815 is higher than at the Ivies, including Harvard ($19,066), Princeton ($6,128), and Yale ($23,777).
Georgetown does not guarantee to meet full demonstrated need, which means middle-income families bear a substantial share of the high sticker price. The Pell grant rate of 10.12% is among the lowest at any selective university, indicating Georgetown primarily serves students from higher-income families. Best fit for students targeting SFS or McDonough who will benefit from DC access, and who can either afford the high sticker price or who qualify for sufficient aid to make the cost manageable.
The questions below address what students and families most commonly search about Georgetown: how selective admissions are, why the net price is so high, what the Walsh School of Foreign Service offers, and what graduates earn.
Rank every state by the average 10-year earnings of its college graduates and the top of the list is the costly Northeast corridor plus DC, not the South.
One federal dataset, 3,839 colleges. The median school costs $16,371 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,259 students. The shape of US higher ed.
Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
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