<p>This question always comes up. I think the lower rankings have something to do with relatively low endowment and to a lesser degree, a relatively high acceptance rate. The endowment is low because the school did not invest for many years like other universities. The Acceptance rate, on the other hand, could decrease dramatically if Georgetown gets rid of its application and adopts the standard common application. They are reluctant to do it because they think it will attract frivolous applications but I think a good supplement to the common app would solve that problem. In any case, the ranking seems to be going up, moving 2 seats per year last time I checked. As the endowment goes up, acceptance % goes down (it did this year as more people applied), and the new science building opens, things may improve further. But remember that this is for the University as a whole. Some sections, like the SFS, are ranked as one of the best as they are. Law school is #14 if I’m not mistaken.</p>