Georgetown peer schools

Colleges and Universities A-Z Georgetown University
1

Out of curiosity, which schools do Georgetown students and alums consider its closest peers? Is it schools ranked closely, like Emory and Berkeley? Or other top schools like Cornell, Duke, Northwestern or Dartmouth?

2

kimfuge88,

Here’s my admittedly highly subjective take. I use the most recent US News rankings as a point of reference:

  1. Except for Dartmouth (11), Cal Tech (12), Brown (14) and Berkeley (20), all of the top twenty universities and John Hopkins (10) are peer institutions of Georgetown. In my view, Dartmouth and Brown edge Georgetown (20) in prestige. Cal Tech does as well, but I don't regard either it or Berkeley as peer institutions of Georgetown. Where Georgetown offers a wide curriculum and is a medium-sized private university, Cal Tech is primarily a science and engineering school, and Berkeley is a large state university.
  2. Although some people regard Dartmouth and Brown as more prestigious than Georgetown, many students choose Georgetown over these universities every year. According to Parchment, however, 75 percent of cross-admits choose Dartmouth over Georgetown just as 75 percent select Brown over Georgetown.
  3. By contrast, Parchment reveals that 69 percent of cross admits select Georgetown over Johns Hopkins (10), 69 percent choose Georgetown over Northwestern (12), 55 percent choose Georgetown over Cornell (15), 78 percent choose Georgetown over Rice (15), 59 percent choose Georgetown over Wash U (19), 70 percent choose Georgetown over Emory (20), and 69 percent select Georgetown over Berkeley. More cross-admits choose Notre Dame (15) and Vanderbilt (15) than Georgetown. For further information, check out the 95% confidence interval Parchment publishes for these statistics.
  4. In terms of specialized curricular opportunities, the peer schools of Georgetown change in terms of what you are studying. For SFS, as an example, peer institutions might include Harvard and Yale since SFS is one of the top programs of its kind in the world.

Good luck with your college search!

3

Not surprisingly, this is a topic of much debate within all parts of Georgetown. It has no true ‘peer’ school, because no one is trying to do all of the things it is trying to do, much less in the same manner.

I do think it ultimately breaks down into various strata, depending on what you’re looking for. If you’re looking for a top-flight academic experience in a Catholic setting, the peers are probably Notre Dame and Boston College. If you’re looking at academic prestige, period, it’s going to vary by program, with some at or near the very top, while others lag the overall university reputation. If you want the academics but also want the big-time athletics, that brings in Duke, Northwestern, and Rice but excludes Emory or Johns Hopkins (unless you really love lacrosse). If you absolutely, positively, must be somewhere around DC, then it’s more of a GU/JHU/GW/UVA/W&M sort of dynamic.

Or, to dodge the question entirely, I’ll go with the company line: Georgetown isn’t trying to best its peers, it’s trying to be the best Georgetown it can be. A Hoya would not have it any other way.