School Profile

Founded in 1789, Georgetown Preparatory School is America's oldest Catholic boarding and day school for young men. Georgetown Prep is an independent, Jesuit, college preparatory school for grades 9-12. Located in North Bethesda, Maryland, the school enjoys the cultural and historic resources of the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area. Both Georgetown Prep and Georgetown University sprang from the vision of the remarkable John Carroll, the first bishop of Baltimore. Carroll regarded the school as critical to the future of the Catholic Church in the United States. Several themes recur throughout Georgetown Prep's history. Most importantly, the Jesuits of Georgetown regarded the Christian formation of students as their primary mission. Knowledge and skills, although important, were approached as means to an end: the knowledge and love of God. The highly structured curriculum emphasized study of the classics as a means of disciplining the mind, imbibing the wisdom of the ancients, and developing eloquentia or facility in speaking and writing. Religious and ethnic pluralism also characterized the preparatory school. From its inception, Georgetown Prep accepted students from foreign countries and from religious traditions other than Roman Catholic. The aim of the Prep community is to provide young men not only with knowledge but also with the spiritual, moral, and aesthetic values which will prepare them for a life of high achievement, community service, and personal fulfillment. This year, Georgetown Prep celebrates its 236th year of forming Men for Others.