Georgetown Prep: A Day-Dominant Jesuit Boys’ School With a Small Global Boarding Core

Current and prior-cycle

One school day, two very different family experiences

Prior-cycle: the 2025–26 profile reports 500 students, including 380 day students and 120 boarders. It also lists a senior class of 130 and 60 faculty.↗

That makes boarders 24% of enrollment. The current residential page calls 120 residents nearly 20%, while Niche reports 496 students and a 24% boarding share.↗↗↗

Here, the percentages do not quite work: 120 of 500 is 24%, not nearly 20%. The difference may reflect dates, rounding, or stale copy, but no public census dates resolve it.↗↗

The practical question is not which percentage sounds better. Ask how many students live on each floor, remain on ordinary weekends, and join evening life from the day population.↗

Jesuit identity

Faith formation is built into graduation and community life

Georgetown Prep welcomes students of all faiths, while identifying explicitly as Catholic and Jesuit. Its international page says 62% of students are Catholic, without a census date.↗↗

Every student takes four years of theology. The community gathers for Mass and worship several times each semester, and every grade completes a retreat.↗↗

Retreats progress from a Grade 9 hike to an overnight sophomore program, four-day junior Kairos, and an overnight senior reflection. Thirty to forty selected seniors may become faith and retreat leaders.↗

Service is also curricular, but the official numbers conflict. The current service page specifies 10, 15, 20, and 40 hours across Grades 9–12, totaling 85, while the school profile says 100 hours.↗↗

A linked 2026 senior proposal adds another contradiction: its introduction says 40 hours, while the embedded form says at least 20. Families should obtain the rule that will apply to the Class of 2031 rather than budget time from any one public figure.↗↗

Four years of theology and annual retreats are presented as student requirements. The public pages describe school worship and Sunday Mass in residential life without stating attendance rules or alternatives, so non-Catholic families should ask exactly what participation means.↗↗↗

Boys-school model

Brotherhood is a real organizing idea, not neutral branding

Classes and core school life are for boys. The school argues that this supports confidence, discussion, leadership, and fewer gender stereotypes, but those are institutional claims rather than comparative outcome evidence.↗↗

The public-facing admissions and mission pages consistently describe applicants and students as boys or young men, but they do not state an eligibility policy for transgender or nonbinary applicants. Families for whom this boundary matters should request current answers on admission, names and records, privacy, housing, and support.↗↗↗

The lived model combines male peer culture with women and men serving as teachers, counselors, nurses, and dorm parents. Theater productions also include students from nearby girls’ and coeducational schools.↗↗

Residential weekends advertise mixers with local girls’ schools. Public pages do not explain the broader curriculum for consent, relationships, gender, sexuality, pornography, or respectful conduct beyond the school’s mission language.↗↗

Day and boarding

Integration is strongest before dinner and least documented afterward

Day students and boarders share academics, advising, clubs, athletics, worship, retreats, and service. Teachers remain available before sports begin at 3:45 p.m., supporting after-school overlap.↗↗↗

The day population spans 77 zip codes across Maryland, DC, and Virginia. That breadth can diversify friendships, but long commutes can also pull students away after activities.↗

The residential page describes weekend programs for residents, not a seven-day whole-school schedule. It gives no ordinary count of day students attending dinner, evening study, Sunday worship, or outings.↗

The school publishes no day-boarder friendship survey, activity participation by status, residential leadership eligibility, dining access, or boarding retention. Ask both groups how the boundary feels.↗↗

Residential setting

All boarders live in one modern residence hall

The Campus Center and Residence Hall opened in October 2022. It has 70 dorm rooms, 128 beds, grade-level lounges, and 10,000 square feet of common space; the campus page separately specifies 16 dorm-parent apartments.↗↗

Rooms are doubles with two beds, desks, chairs, closets, wardrobes, and a safe. Each floor has two communal bathrooms with private changing areas attached to shower stalls.↗

One building can simplify staffing, health access, and community events. It can also concentrate noise, social conflict, and contagious illness, so floor culture matters more than the building tour.↗

Room assignment, roommate matching, change procedures, singles, disability accommodations, gender-identity accommodations, cleaning standards, maintenance response, and floor populations are not publicly detailed.↗

Dorm supervision

The adult presence is substantial, but the operating ratios are missing

The school claims 24/7 residential supervision. Its Dorm Parent team reportedly includes 33 adults, with 13 teachers, 14 families, coaches, counselors, a behavioral-health nurse, alumni, and service corps members.↗

Those category counts overlap and should not be added. The page does not say how many distinct adults sleep in the building, cover each floor, or work each shift.↗

Twelve senior prefects assist during study hall, and a full-time Academic Coordinator tracks performance. Peer leadership can improve belonging, but it cannot replace adult safeguarding, discipline, health response, or overnight accountability.↗

Families still need answers about overnight awake staffing, on-call coverage, rounds, floor ratios, duty handoffs, training hours, staff turnover, room-entry rules, and emergency response times. Obtain the actual duty model in writing.↗

Weekends and leave

The activity menu is visible; the rules and participation are not

Current examples include professional sports, museums, amusement parks, shopping, restaurants, service, art workshops, recreation, school games, and meals with faculty. Some events connect students to Washington and nearby schools.↗

A list of highlights does not show a normal weekend. The school publishes no event calendar with attendance, capacity, cost, adult ratios, cancellations, or grade distribution.↗

Public pages also omit curfews, sign-out rules, local leave, overnight permissions, ride-share use, public-transit boundaries, guest policies, and consequences for missed check-in.↗

Phones and technology

BYOD is public; the phone rules are not

Every student brings a compatible laptop and carries it to class. Families handle repairs and replacement; the school offers a limited one-week loaner supply.↗

Boarders register computers on the network and must keep gaming and social media from displacing work or sleep. Game consoles and monitors larger than 20 inches are prohibited in rooms.↗

The school requires a handbook agreement covering technology, but no current public handbook states phone collection, bedroom access, Wi-Fi shutoff, monitoring, search, confiscation, or family-contact rules.↗↗

Families still need answers about phone windows by grade, bedtime storage, medical exceptions, parental emergencies, device inspection, filtering, privacy, and repeated-violation consequences. Ask for the exact 2027–28 policy before enrollment.↗

Academic model

A broad liberal-arts program with real sequencing constraints

The 2025–26 profile describes six or seven daily classes, unweighted GPAs, no class rank, and mandatory exams for AP students. Honors and AP placement can require departmental approval.↗

Freshmen cannot take AP courses, and sophomore AP choices are limited. Double-period AP Biology, Chemistry, and Physics C consume two schedule periods and earn two credits.↗

The current academic page reports 114 courses, 12 honors courses, and an average class size of 15; the 2025–26 profile lists 14. More strikingly, the live page gives three conflicting AP counts: 26, 27, and 28.↗↗

Graduation requires four years each of English, theology, mathematics, and social studies. Students also complete science, Latin, modern language, art, music, athletics, and service requirements.↗↗

This curriculum rewards coherent planning. Transfer students, advanced mathematicians, double-language students, musicians, and athletes should test four-year schedules rather than rely on course-list breadth.↗↗

Workload and pace

Rigor is clear; nightly workload data are absent

The school calls every course rigorous and labels its curriculum demanding. Semester exams count 15% for freshmen and 25% for older students, making assessment stakes visible.↗

Teachers offer extra help before activities begin at 3:45 p.m. Boarders also have study hall, a writing lab, prefect help, and an Academic Coordinator.↗

Niche’s recent reviews include praise for preparation and teacher access alongside descriptions of heavy workload. These anonymous, voluntary accounts are useful prompts, not representative workload evidence.↗

Families still need answers about median homework by grade and course, sleep, extension rules, late penalties, test clustering, failure rates, withdrawals, AP load distribution, and student stress measures.↗↗

Advising and learning support

Support exists, but capacity and cost require direct questions

Published resources include teacher help, a tutoring center, one-to-one learning-specialist work, a writing lab, and accommodations support. Freshman advising addresses organization, time management, study skills, sleep, and wellness.↗↗↗

Resident students have a full-time Academic Coordinator who monitors performance and connects students with teachers. Dorm parents who teach may also help during evenings.↗

The public pages do not identify tutoring fees, learning-specialist headcount, eligibility, session frequency, caseload, formal executive-function coaching, psychoeducational testing, or supported diagnostic profiles.↗↗

A family needing predictable support should request a written service map tied to the child’s documentation. General teacher accessibility is valuable, but it is not the same as specialized intervention.↗↗

Arts

The arts are required, though much performance work sits after school

Every freshman completes a semester each of art and music. Later offerings include studio art, ceramics, AP Art and Design, AP Art History, audio engineering, video production, ensembles, and singing.↗↗

Families still need answers about participation, audition and casting policies, production fees, private lessons, instrument rental, rehearsal load, and boarding-versus-day access after evening events.↗

Athletics

Athletics are culturally prominent and partly required

Students must complete one athletic season in both Grades 9 and 10. The 2025–26 profile lists 32 teams, 16 varsity teams, and sports ranging from football and lacrosse to fencing and clay target.↗↗

Health care

Daytime nursing and residential response are described with useful specificity

The Health Center operates weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Its public team includes two registered nurses and an office assistant.↗

For residents, the school says a doctor visits “bi-weekly,” a nurse is always on call, and a certified EMT lives in the dorm. Because “bi-weekly” can mean twice a week or every two weeks, families should confirm the actual physician schedule; staff provide transport when needed.↗

Prescription medicines are stored and administered by the nurse during the day. Trained residential staff distribute medication at night, while dorm parents hold CPR, AED, and first-aid certification.↗

Families still need answers about physician scope, overnight response time, hospital relationships, isolation capacity, chronic-care limits, eating-disorder support, substance treatment, insurance billing, emergency consent, and parental notification thresholds.↗↗

Counseling boundaries

The school publishes a short-term, referral-based model

Counseling offers one-to-one, solution-focused short-term care, crisis intervention, grief and trauma response, parent consultation, advocacy, accommodations support, and referrals to outside providers.↗

The public team lists a counseling director and a behavioral-health nurse. It does not list a psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, or substance-use specialist.↗

Confidentiality has safety, abuse, neglect, and court-order exceptions. The page does not explain ordinary parent notification, records, session limits, emergency assessment, medical leave, re-entry, or mandated outside treatment.↗

Families still need answers about caseload, wait time, availability after school, boarding coverage overnight, external-provider transport, insurance, telehealth, and support during breaks. These limits matter before a crisis, not only afterward.↗

Physical safety

Security coverage is public, but several operational details remain unclear

Georgetown Prep says a contracted security company monitors campus every day, around the clock. From 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m., one guard staffs the gate and another patrols.↗

Cameras operate inside and outside, and Montgomery County police reportedly visit during the day and attend major events. The main Rockville Pike entrance is staffed continuously.↗↗

Families still need answers about staffing between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., camera retention and access, visitor screening, emergency drills, fire evacuation, reunification, weapons protocols, and family notification timelines.↗↗

The residence hall has 128 beds in one building. Families should ask for its fire inspection, alarm and sprinkler testing, drill cadence, nighttime accountability, and evacuation plan for mobility needs.↗

Safeguarding history

A past abuse case requires a direct, documented conversation

In 2011, former Jesuit priest and teacher Garrett Orr pleaded guilty to two fourth-degree sexual offenses involving students. He had taught at Prep during 1989–2003.↗↗

The school’s January 2011 letter said it reported a 2003–04 allegation to police and the Jesuit province. It did not specify the interval between disclosure and police referral.↗

The Washington Post reported a prosecutor’s statement that police received the report seven months after disclosure. The school said it contacted police after about six months and had examined the allegation.↗

A Jesuit review found the allegation substantially true, and Orr was removed from ministry. The Maryland Attorney General’s revised interim report later included his case and the institutional record.↗↗

This is historical evidence, not proof of current conditions. It remains relevant because boarding concentrates trust, authority, and access, while public evidence about current safeguarding implementation is limited.↗↗

Day-family logistics

Metro access is a genuine asset, but the full day extends beyond dismissal

The campus is five miles from Washington and one mile from the Beltway. Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro is a published 0.7-mile, 14-minute walk.↗

A free school van meets the Metro at 7:30 and 8:05 a.m. The public page does not list an afternoon shuttle, late bus, or activity return service.↗

Other options include carpool, Montgomery County Ride On Route 46, and a Northern Virginia bus coordinated by Stone Ridge. Current public route prices and seat guarantees are not posted by Prep.↗↗

Classes run roughly 8:15 a.m. to 2:46 p.m., while activities begin at 3:45. Rehearsals, games, help, service, and traffic can turn a manageable morning into a long family day.↗↗

Test the trip at actual weekday times, including a late pickup. Ask how frequently transport failures, weather, and extracurricular travel shift responsibility back to parents.↗

Boarding-family logistics

Opening logistics are published; breaks and airport coverage are not

Prior-cycle: new residents moved in August 25, 2026, followed by three orientation days. Returning residents arrived later, before classes began August 31.↗↗

The public site does not identify preferred airports, school shuttles, fees, unaccompanied-minor procedures, flight windows, storage, or late-arrival supervision. North Bethesda access alone does not answer those questions.↗↗

A 2024 USA East Province story says overseas residents often spend Thanksgiving with day-student families. That is useful evidence of community hospitality, but it is not a current closure calendar, host-screening policy, or guarantee for 2027–28.↗

Families still need answers about which 2027–28 breaks close the hall, whether students may remain, who arranges host families, how hosts are screened, and what happens after cancellations.↗↗

A boarding contract should come with a full travel calendar and responsibility map. Families need realistic budgets for flights, hotels, hosts, meals, rides, storage, documents, and disruption.↗↗

International families

The global boarding mix is meaningful, while aid and logistics are restrictive

The international page says 45% of boarders are international and students represent 20 countries. The residence page reports 20 countries and five continents, but neither gives a census date.↗↗

After acceptance, the International Programs Office issues an I-20 and F-1 instructions. International applicants submit a passport image, TOEFL, SSAT, and an interview appropriate to their location.↗

Mainland China applicants must use Vericant, while another sentence says international interviews may occur by Zoom. Ask which rule applies and whether the Vericant fee sits outside school charges.↗

The school offers English support for an additional $9,660 and says international aid is generally unavailable. It publishes no language-placement exit criteria, average duration, or outcomes.↗↗

Families still need answers about health-insurance requirements, guardianship, vacation housing, immigration support during emergencies, airport assistance, document storage, banking, phone setup, and family communication across time zones.↗↗

College advising

The program is personalized in description, not quantified in delivery

The current college page promises individual guidance with lists, essays, timelines, and family partnership. The 2025–26 profile names four college counselors plus an assistant and testing coordinator.↗↗

The prior profile reports 130 seniors. That does not reveal actual counselor assignments, caseload across grades, boarding-family access, recommendation capacity, or staff turnover.↗

Washington access brings more than 150 college visitors during a typical fall, according to the school. Public pages do not report attendance, virtual access, or how boarders use family meetings.↗

Independent context

Niche suggests pride, rigor, and athletic energy, with a very small sample

Niche displays 105 self-selected reviews averaging 4.6 stars. Recent reviews praise teacher access, facilities, service, community, and preparation; one explicitly describes heavy workload and rigor.↗

Its polls use only 22 to 25 responses for many culture measures. Among 22 respondents, 86% reported feeling safe and 91% reported liking the school.↗

These are anonymous, voluntary responses, not a representative survey. Niche’s question summaries are AI-generated and explicitly marked as potentially inaccurate, so this guide does not treat them as findings.↗

Use the themes to shape interviews: academic pressure, athletic status, boarding communication, teacher access, and brotherhood. Then seek schoolwide survey denominators and disaggregated results from Georgetown Prep.↗

Tuition and full cost

Published tuition is only the first budget line

Current 2026–27 tuition is $47,450 for day students and $78,015 for residents. Fall 2027 tuition is unknown, and the page does not publish a separate international residential rate.↗

The English as a Second Language program adds $9,660. Books are estimated at $800–$1,000, Parents’ Club dues are $105, and deposits are credited toward tuition.↗

The minimum calculable 2026–27 school budget is therefore $48,355–$48,555 for a day student or $78,920–$79,120 for a resident: tuition, books, and club dues only. Those are arithmetic floors, not all-in prices.↗

The page lists tuition-refund insurance as .09% without explaining the base, requirement, or decimal convention. Families should not calculate from that typography without written confirmation.↗

A device, repairs, insurance, uniform, sports equipment, transport, optional travel, tutoring, dry cleaning, spending, and break care may add materially. No official all-in estimate combines them.↗↗↗

Financial aid

The policy sounds generous, but the live page contradicts itself

Aid is need-based. Georgetown Prep says it offers no academic, merit, or athletic scholarships and says requesting aid does not affect admission.↗

The same page says both 30% and 28% of families receive aid. The 2025–26 profile reports 30%, while Niche lists 33%; none supplies a matching census date.↗↗↗

Day grants reportedly range from $5,000 to $45,000. The school publishes no boarding range, average grant, total aid budget, unmet need, renewal formula, or recipient breakdown.↗

The aid instructions point in two directions: the live page directs families to Clarity and describes a $60 fee, but another paragraph says grants are calculated through TADS. Confirm the platform before submitting sensitive financial data.↗

Both separated or divorced parents generally must disclose finances. International aid is described as generally unavailable, making the published residential price especially consequential for global families.↗↗

Entry points

Grade 9 is primary; Grades 10 and 11 depend on openings

Georgetown Prep serves Grades 9–12, but service range is not admission range. The Fall 2027 visit program targets current eighth graders and transfer applicants in Grades 9 and 10.↗↗

The transfer section is explicit. Applicants to Grades 10 and 11 are considered when space exists, Grade 10 is most common, and availability changes annually.↗

Georgetown Prep does not accept Grade 12 or postgraduate applicants. Entering eleventh graders are excused from the Latin requirement, while other credits and placement still require review.↗

The school publishes no Fall 2027 seats by grade, day or boarding status, aid need, citizenship, legacy relationship, or athletic interest. It publishes no transfer yield or wait-list movement.↗

Transfer families should obtain a written graduation audit before applying. Four years of theology, English, mathematics, and social studies make later entry more constrained than a simple transcript transfer.↗↗

Fall 2027 admission

The admission calendar is current and unusually specific

Applications are due Friday, January 8, 2027. Decisions post February 25 at 4:00 p.m., followed by an accepted-student event on March 2.↗

Day enrollment is due March 12. Resident enrollment is due April 2, giving boarding families three additional weeks to decide.↗

New-family financial aid is due January 9, one day after the admission deadline. The school warns that funds are often committed before families who apply after admission request assistance.↗

The public page does not enumerate the complete Grade 9 file, application fee, recommendation forms, transcript years, or late-file policy. Families must inspect their Veracross checklist.↗

Niche lists a $50 application fee, but the official public page does not confirm it. Treat the portal amount as controlling and save a dated screenshot.↗↗

Testing, interview, and visit

The SSAT is required; the domestic interview wording needs confirmation

The SSAT is required for a complete application. Georgetown Prep offers one on-campus sitting on December 5, 2026, while applicants may test elsewhere or online.↗

Transfer applicants who already took the PSAT may substitute that score. Transfers also need a good-standing letter sent directly by their current dean or equivalent administrator.↗

After submitting the application essay, a family may schedule an interview. It includes the applicant and a separate parent or guardian conversation, but the domestic page never plainly says required.↗

Families should clarify whether the interview is required. Niche labels it required, and the official international page also calls Vericant an interview requirement, while the general page uses optional-sounding scheduling language for domestic applicants.↗↗↗

Hoya for a Day begins September 15 for current Grades 8–10. It includes classes and lunch; boarding families must separately request residence information and dorm tours.↗↗

Selection evidence

There is no defensible public admission rate

The school publishes no applications, offers, enrolled applicants, wait-list counts, or acceptance rate. It also gives no separate figures for Grade 9, transfers, day, boarding, aid, or international applicants.↗

The international page calls selection very competitive and says it seeks distinctive contributors to the Jesuit tradition. That is positioning, not a denominator or probability.↗

It reports an average international SSAT score of 2070 and 60th percentile without a class year, range, or sample size. Neither figure is a published cutoff.↗