Georgetown University ranked 24th in the 2026 university rankings from the U.S. News & World Report, retaining its 2025 spot. 

This ranking, tied with Emory University, keeps Georgetown just outside the “top 20” category of national universities on the “Best National Universities Ranking,” a grouping informally regarded as the most prestigious set of higher education institutions. U.S. News uses graduation rates, graduation rate performance and peer assessment to evaluate and rank schools. 

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is focusing its resources on attracting the best students and faculty rather than achieving a certain rank.

“While we are proud to be ranked among the top 25 universities in the nation, we are most focused on the fundamentals of what makes our University strong,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “Georgetown will continue to actively seek out and recruit highly talented and motivated students from all backgrounds who will contribute to the academic rigor and thrive at the University.

Lilly Rogers (CAS ’29) said she feels indifferent to the rankings as a current student and is more focused on her own experiences.

“I think I care more about the actual experience of being a student here and the opportunities I get here,” Rogers told The Hoya. “I think the rankings are meant to reflect that, but as long as my experiences here and the opportunities I get here are good then that’s all I care about.” 

Gracie Dogramaci (CAS ’28) said she thinks the rankings do not properly reflect Georgetown’s reputation and academic rigor.

“I feel like Georgetown has a certain reputation to be very academically rigorous and prestigious, so to know that we’re 24th, it’s not the greatest to know,” Dogramaci told The Hoya. “I think it does make sense, but we also have worked very hard to be here, and I’m not sure this ranking reflects that.”  

Niche, a college review and ranking platform, placed Georgetown at 17th on their “Best Colleges in America” list — dropping four places — while the Wall Street Journal ranked it at 37th. 

U.S. News has consistently ranked Georgetown in the top 25 over the past few years, being 24th in 2024 and 22nd in 2023.

Kayna Aneja (MSB ’29) said she did not strongly consider rank when applying to Georgetown, noting that Georgetown was ranked the lowest out of the three schools she was deciding between.

“When I was applying to college, I, of course, looked at the rankings for the MSB, what I wanted to do, how it would help me, but Georgetown was the least ranked out of all three, so I don’t think it played a huge role in my consideration,” Aneja told The Hoya.

Maya DeFrancesco, a current senior in high school from New York applying to Georgetown, said she thinks about rank when making application decisions.

“I mean, the ranking of the school to me isn’t the most important aspect of the school, but it definitely is a factor,” DeFrancesco told The Hoya. “But once you’re in that top 30 area it starts to become mushy, and kind of becomes up to you to decide what’s best.” 

Aneja said Georgetown’s lack of STEM programs may be holding the school back in rankings.

“With our lack of Common App presence as well as a lack of an engineering program, I think it makes sense to be quite honest,” Aneja said.“There’s a lot of things on the horizon, but I don’t think the school is very concentrated on increasing its STEM presence, because they would’ve taken more measures than they have.” 

Rogers said rankings impacted her decision to apply to Georgetown and helped her decide on a school.

“I think it was important to me applying here that it was ranked pretty high among a lot of institutions I think very highly of, and it’s a good spot to be in the grand scheme of things,” Rogers said. “So it definitely did play a factor in my decision to come here.”