,·Private Liberal Arts College·Est. 1843
“College of the Holy Cross, founded in 1843 in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the oldest Catholic college in New England and one of only 28 Jesuit colleg”
The College of the Holy Cross is the oldest Roman Catholic college in New England and one of only 27 Jesuit institutions of higher education in the United States. Founded in 1843 and perched atop Mount St. James overlooking the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, Holy Cross is a purely undergraduate liberal arts college of roughly 3,200 students, a scale that keeps seminars small, faculty accessible, and advising genuinely personal. The curriculum is grounded in the Jesuit tradition of "cura personalis" — care for the whole person — which translates into a Common Area Requirements program spanning arts, literature, history, philosophy, religious studies, natural sciences, social sciences, and cross-cultural studies, ensuring every graduate leaves with a broad intellectual foundation regardless of major. Holy Cross is best known for producing disproportionately successful graduates in law, medicine, finance, and public service. Economics is the single most popular major, feeding a celebrated "Crusader Mafia" on Wall Street that reliably places students at Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, and Morgan Stanley; the college's political science, history, classics, and chemistry departments are similarly distinguished. Signature academic experiences include the Montserrat first-year living-learning program, the year-long Honors Program, and the nationally ranked Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics and Society — which pairs liberal arts students with case-driven business training without a formal business major. Student life centers on a leafy, stone-built campus with 100%+ on-campus housing for most four years, NCAA Division I Patriot League athletics (the Crusaders field 27 varsity teams), and a famously dense alumni network — Holy Cross graduates routinely cite Crusader-to-Crusader mentorship as the single most valuable thing they took from college. Worcester itself is New England's second-largest city and a nine-college consortium town, giving students easy access to internships, research, and a dining scene that punches above its weight, while Boston sits just 45 minutes to the east.
Visa, OPT, H-1B alumni outcomes, and acceptance rates by country — sourced from FOIA, USCIS H-1B Hub, and DHS SEVIS.
Test Optional — You can submit scores if they help your case, but they're not required.
Official SourceEarly Decision I
Binding
Early Decision II
Binding
Regular Decision
The deep admissions playbook beyond the headline acceptance rate — round-by-round breakdowns, nationality data, requirements, and contact paths.
Tuition & Fees (All Students)
$64,500
/yr
Beyond the sticker price — every named scholarship, the financial aid policy, need-aware notes, and a personalized net-cost estimate.
How life on campus actually feels — clubs, sports, traditions, housing realities, and how the school integrates with its city.
Holy Cross offers 34 majors and 40 minors in the liberal arts and sciences, with particular strengths in economics, political science, English, biology, and psychology. The Montserrat program provides first-year students with a unique cluster-based learning experience integrating academic courses with residential life. All students complete a common core including courses in arts, literature, religious studies, philosophy, historical studies, and cross-cultural studies. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio ensures close mentoring relationships.
4 years
The largest major at Holy Cross and the core of the celebrated Crusader pipeline to investment banking, consulting, and asset management in NYC and Boston.
1 years
Year-long living-learning seminar for all first-year students, grouped into six thematic clusters — students live, take a signature course, and attend shared cultural programming with faculty embedded in residence halls.
4 years
One of the strongest undergraduate Classics departments in the U.S., producing a remarkable density of Rhodes Scholars and classics PhDs.
Where alumni go after graduation — top industries, grad-school continuation, and the qualitative outcomes story.
Sticker price (annual, out-of-state): $64,500
Net-cost estimate is US-resident-only — international applicants are typically excluded from need-based aid at most schools and should treat the sticker price as the planning baseline.
