Georgetown

Georgetown University has consistently been deemed one of the top 20 universities in the nation. It is one of the oldest colleges in the United States, having been established in 1789. The campus, located overlooking the Potomac River in Washington D.C, covers about 104 acres. The university has a typical population of about 7,500 undergraduates.

Undergraduates can receive major in 44 subjects through Georgetown College, the School of Nursing and Health Studies, the Robert Emmett McDonough School of Business, the School of Continuing Studies, and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Students can also design individualized programs of study if the traditional majors don’t fit their focus. More than half of the undergraduates at Georgetown study abroad at institutions overseas. The classes are able to maintain a small student to faculty ratio, with 60 percent of the classes having fewer than 20 students.

Although the university was established as a Roman Catholic Jesuit school, the campus supports all religions. About 40 percent of students identify as Roman Catholic, but the school still has a full-time rabbi to serve students. They were also the first college in the United States to have a full-time imam for Muslim students.

There is also a popular, nonreligious Ignatian retreat called ESCAPE that hundreds of incoming freshman attend every year. There are some Greek organizations, although they are not technically approved by the Jesuit church. Since the majority of undergrads live on campus, there is a thriving social atmosphere, with more than 250 clubs and organizations.

Georgetown University has some of the oldest clubs in the nation. The Philodemic Society is one of the oldest debating clubs (founded in 1830), and the Mask and Bauble Dramatic Society is the oldest university theater group. The school also has the Georgetown Improv Association, and they put on Improvfest, one of the oldest improv festivals in the country.

Georgetown also has the country’s largest student-owned and operated non-profit corporation called Students of Georgetown, Inc. Established in 1972, the organization has annual revenue of over $5 million. The funds are given back to the Corp Philanthropy for scholarships and donations to Georgetown University students. There are also several media publications, including the newspaper, “The Hoya,” and the newsmagazine, “The Georgetown Voice.” Georgetown also has 23 varsity teams that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level.

Students looking for a rich extracurricular life combined with comprehensive undergraduate study programs should check out Georgetown. The urban setting of Washington D.C. also provides students with many opportunities for research and internships. Illustrious faculty and notable alumni make Georgetown University a long-standing institution of traditional education.