Georgetown University Admissions

About Georgetown University

Georgetown University comes in at #22 in the most recent U.S. News and World Report rankings of National Universities and #21 on its list of Best Undergraduate Teaching Schools. Founded in 1789, Georgetown is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in the US. Today, 6,300 undergraduate students study on its Washington, DC campus, which overlooks the Potomac River.

Georgetown University is comprised of nine different schools:

Undergraduate applicants to Georgetown can enroll in the first four of these schools, allowing them to pursue subjects ranging from biochemistry to finance to international affairs. Applicants to Georgetown College also have the option of enrolling in the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics, a unique liberal arts program with a special focus on language acquisition and non-English-speaking literatures and cultures. The student-faculty ratio for all Georgetown classes is 11:1, and 55.4% of classes have fewer than 20 students.

For undergraduate students with an interest in medicine or law, Georgetown also offers an Early Assurance Program that allows students to apply at the end of their sophomore or junior years for early admission to the School of Medicine or Georgetown Law. Both schools’ Early Assurance Programs require students to have high grades, but—quite notably—they do require MCAT or LSAT scores for admissions decisions.

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Applying to Georgetown University

Since Georgetown does not use the Common Application, undergraduate applicants to Georgetown will have to fill out the school’s own application. In years past, Georgetown has required that applicants submit SAT or ACT scores and did not allow score choice.

Undergraduate applicants to Georgetown can apply to only one of the four schools that enroll undergraduate students per application cycle. If, however, you get into one school and later find that you would prefer to enroll in another, Georgetown does offer an intra-university transfer process. 

In addition to completing two standard essays, applicants to Georgetown will also have to write one essay tailored to their particular school of interest. These were the essay prompts on Georgetown’s most recent application:

Essay Prompts for All Georgetown Undergraduate Applicants:

Short Essay
Briefly (approximately one-half page, single-spaced) discuss the significance to you of the school or summer activity in which you have been most involved.

Long Essay
As Georgetown is a diverse community, the Admissions Committee would like to know more about you in your own words. Please submit a brief essay, either personal or creative, which you feel best describes you.

School-Specific Georgetown Admissions Essay Prompts

Applicants to Georgetown College: What does it mean to you to be educated? How might Georgetown College help you achieve this aim? (Applicants to the Sciences and Mathematics or the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics should address their chosen course of study.)

Applicants to the School of Nursing and Health Studies: Describe the factors that have influenced your interest in studying health care at Georgetown University. Please specifically address your intended major (Health Care Management & Policy, Human Science, Global Health, or Nursing).

Applicants to the Walsh School of Foreign Service: What is motivating you to dedicate your undergraduate studies to a future in service to the world?

Applicants to the McDonough School of Business: The McDonough School of Business is a national and global leader in providing graduates with essential ethical, analytical, financial and global perspectives. Please discuss your motivations for studying business at Georgetown.

Georgetown also offers course recommendations for students applying to particular schools. The school recommends that applicants applying to Georgetown College with an interest in math or science take four years of mathematics and at least three years of science in high school. Applicants to the Nursing Program should take at least three years of math and one year each of biology and chemistry. Applicants to the Business School should complete at least three years of math, as well as a course in computer science, while students interested in the Walsh School of Foreign Service or the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics should have experience with at least one foreign language.

All first-year applicants, including international applicants, are also required to take part in an interview with a Georgetown alumnus. (Interviews are optional for transfer students.) The Georgetown admissions office will provide you with the name and contact information of an alumni interviewer in your area only after you have submitted your application. Once you receive this information, you are expected to take the initiative and reach out to your interviewer to set up a meeting.  This is called an “alumni interview” and, while it won’t make up for scores and grades, it does paint you as a more three-dimensional candidate.  

For undergraduate applicants, Georgetown offers Early Action and Regular Decision options. Early Action applications, typically due on November 1, are non-binding, which means that accepted students do not have to attend. Students who apply Early Action to Georgetown are welcome to apply Early Action and Regular Decision to other schools, but they cannot apply to any school Early Decision. It’s worth noting that, unlike many other schools, Early Action acceptance rates at Georgetown are not much higher than Regular Decision rates.(For the Class of 2027, Georgetown accepted about 12 percent of Early Action applicants and 13 percent of Regular Decision applicants.)

Early Action results are typically sent to students by December 15th, and no students are rejected during the Early Action round at Georgetown. Instead, any Early Action applicants who are not admitted are deferred to the Regular Decision round in the spring. Georgetown typically admits about 15 percent of Early Action candidates during the Regular Decision round.

Georgetown University Admissions Wrap Up

Class of 2028
Georgetown admitted 860, of the 8,600 applicants to the Class of 2028, for an Early Action acceptance rate of 10 percent.

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