One of America's most prestigious universities, Georgetown University currently has 1,100 full-time and 330 part-time faculty spread across its three campuses. As of 2002-03, there were 6,332 full-time and part-time undergraduate students, 3,768 full-time and part-time graduate students on the Main Campus, 2,043 students at the Law Center and 713 students in the Medical School.

Georgetown is one of the most selective universities in the United States: its overall undergraduate acceptance rate is 22%, and many of the graduate programs, particularly in the Law Center and Medical School, are similarly competitive. The undergraduate schools maintain an Early Action admissions program. According to admissions fact sheets, applicants applying to Georgetown typically consider similarly prominent institutions such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Duke, and the University of Chicago during their application and subsequent enrollment periods.

Prominent student organizations include the main student-run newspapers, The Hoya , The Voice  and The Independent ; the Philodemic Society, a debating group; The Georgetown International Relations Association , a student-run group that participates in and hosts Model UN events for high-school and college-aged students; and Mask & Bauble, the oldest continually operating student theater group in the country.