Dear Members of the Georgetown University Community,
In February, Georgetown students were invited to participate in a cultural climate survey designed to gather information about the ways in which campus environments shape the experiences and outcomes of diverse student populations at Georgetown. This is the second cultural climate survey conducted of Georgetown students; the first survey was conducted in 2020.
In the 2025 survey, the response rate was 17.5% for undergraduate students and 16.5% for graduate and professional students.
The University’s Office of Assessment and Decision Support (OADS) has prepared reports on the undergraduate and graduate/professional student responses, and has compared findings to those of the 2020 survey. Many of the findings indicated significant improvement over the previous survey, including overall findings around belonging and student satisfaction.
Belonging and Satisfaction
We saw an increase in students’ sense of belonging at the undergraduate and graduate/professional levels:
- 74.7% of undergraduates felt like they were part of the community at Georgetown (a statistically significant change from 70.3% in 2020)
- 66.7% of graduate/professional students felt like they were part of the community (a statistically significant change from 57.3% in 2020).
We also saw an increase in student satisfaction at the undergraduate and graduate/professional levels:
- 82.1% of undergraduates were satisfied or very satisfied with their college experience (a statistically significant change from 74.7% in 2020)
- 74.4% of graduate/professional students were satisfied or very satisfied with their graduate school experience (a statistically significant change from 71.4% in 2020).
We acknowledge—and the survey findings reinforce—that there remains important work to be done to support students from diverse backgrounds to ensure everyone feels welcome at Georgetown. For example, in the undergraduate student survey question about sense of belonging at Georgetown, we saw differences among groups, with international students reporting the highest sense of belonging (79.7%), followed by White students (77.6%), Asian students (73.4%), multiracial students (71.9%), Hispanic/Latino students (69.2%), and Black/African American students (59.3%).
Classroom Environment
The survey also contained a number of questions related to the classroom environment. In this domain, we saw significant increases in the percentage of undergraduate students reporting that Georgetown instructors were effective at:
- Creating environments where they felt welcomed (80.8% in 2025, a statistically significant change from 70.4% in 2020)
- Creating environments where they were comfortable expressing their viewpoints (77.1% in 2025, a statistically significant change from 66.6% in 2020)
- Creating classrooms in which all perspectives were equally valued (74.4% in 2025, a statistically significant change from 59.4% in 2020).
I encourage you to read the full reports for a comprehensive overview of the survey findings. The survey data will help inform ongoing discussion and action related to belonging at Georgetown. More information about the Georgetown Student Cultural Climate Survey can be found on the OADS website.
Thank you to the students who participated in this survey. You have provided valuable information that we can use to further enhance the Georgetown experience for all members of our community.
Sincerely,
Robert M. Groves
Interim President