Georgetown University

In brief

Georgetown University, in Washington, DC, is a Catholic university founded in 1789 by John Carroll, the first Catholic bishop in what is now the United States. It has been closely associated with the Jesuits since 1805, though its governance has always been independent of the Church. By our measure of academic influence, it ranks #28 in the United States and #71 in the world. It admitted 12.9% of applicants for fall 2024; admitted students had a median SAT score of 1470 and a median ACT score of 33.

In the 1870s the Jesuit priest Patrick Francis Healy rebuilt it on the model of the modern research university, a period sometimes called its “second founding.” Today it has about 19,000 students, most of them not Catholic.

Where Georgetown’s influence is strongest

Georgetown’s influence is led by law, political science, and criminal justice, all in the US top 10. Its strongest broad fields, by US rank in our data, are:

• Law: #7 in the US (#10 in the world)
• Political science: #8
• Criminal justice: #9
• Religious studies and nursing: #15 each

Within those fields, Georgetown is a national leader in several specialties:

• #1 in the US: entrepreneurial economics
• #2 in the US: bioethics and Islamic studies (in each, only Harvard ranks higher)
• #4: tax law and international affairs

By comparison, Georgetown sits further back in chemistry (#78), earth sciences (#79), and mathematics (#99).

How we measure influence: these ranks come from the citations and recognition earned by a school’s faculty and alumni in each discipline, not from surveys or admissions statistics. See our methodology.

Notable people

Georgetown alumni include President Bill Clinton, King Abdullah II of Jordan, King Felipe VI of Spain, former Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Justice Antonin Scalia, Senators Dick Durbin and Lisa Murkowski, the journalists Maria Shriver and Norah O’Donnell, and the actor Bradley Cooper. The neuroscientist Solomon Snyder is also Georgetown-connected. Our full lists of Georgetown’s most influential alumni and faculty appear below.

Frequently asked questions

Is Georgetown hard to get into? Yes. It admitted 12.9% of applicants for fall 2024; the middle half of admitted students scored 700–770 on the SAT reading section and 690–780 on math.

What does Georgetown cost after financial aid? Tuition is $71,338 for 2025–26. The average net price for aided students with family incomes of $48,000–$75,000 was $15,746 in 2024–25; it ranged from about $10,252 for incomes below $30,000 to $60,179 for incomes above $110,000.

How do Georgetown graduates do? 94.3% of students who started in 2019 graduated within six years, and 97% of first-year students return for a second year. Ten years after starting college, former students had median earnings of $110,516.

What is Georgetown best known for academically? By our influence data: law, political science, and criminal justice, plus bioethics, where only Harvard ranks higher in the US.