Holy Cross College

Holy Cross College is a four-year, co-educational, liberal arts college located across the street from Notre Dame and next to Saint Mary's College. Founded by the Brother of Holy Cross, we are Catholic by mission and open to all faiths. What sets us apart as a liberal arts college is our experiential learning curriculum. Each student at Holy Cross shares four core experiences while earning their BA degree: a service learning experience, a global immersion, a professional internship, and a senior capstone presentation. The four core experiences were intentionally designed and implemented to be transformative for our students. Our students learn about their community through service and discover talents and interests they never knew they had; they develop a tangible understanding of various needs in our society and become keenly aware of ways to address those needs. Additionally, students at Holy Cross will travel abroad and experience a culture that is significantly different from their own. Holy Cross students take a two to three week immersion trip to places like Ghana, Peru, or India to live and work along-side the Brothers of Holy Cross in their mission. Together with the service learning, this intensive global experience challenges students' perceptions of the world and presents an opportunity to complete their college degree with a level of social maturity that often provides a deepened understanding of their vocational plan. Next is an internship in the student's chosen field of study. Through the internship, students continue to identify their interests and develop their skills. Our students have been placed in Washington DC as congressional aids, in large hospitals as health-care assistants, in multi-national corporations as marketing assistants, and in television stations as assistant producers. Finally, in the senior year, students prepare a Capstone Presentation that serves as a reflection of the knowledge, skills, and abilities that they have acquired at Holy Cross. In a 45-minute multi-media presentation, students share what they have learned, how their experiences changed them, and discuss their future plans. Students who complete all four experiential components of the curriculum at Holy Cross are not only prepared to graduate, but are able to confidently take steps toward a career that they have discerned through service, global immersion, and a professional internship. We have an enrollment of five hundred students, half living on campus. Because of our size, students enjoy benefits typical of attending a small school: smaller class sizes, increased student-faculty interaction, opportunities for involvement in a variety of student activities, and a strong sense of engagement. Also, Holy Cross' location in proximity to Notre Dame and Saint Mary's College allows our students to share the many resources and social opportunities found at larger institutions. Students are able to take classes at Saint Mary's, join organizations (including the Notre Dame Marching Band), attend academic conferences and lectures, and attend athletic events at all three campuses. According to the 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), Holy Cross has posted some of the highest scores of any NSSE participating college or university in the US and Canada. The Survey measures key practices associated with student learning, persistence, and graduation. Our seniors scored Holy Cross more than 10 points higher than the national averages in the benchmarking composite scores for institutional effectiveness in the categories of Active and Collaborative Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction, providing Enriching Educational Experiences, and having a Supportive Campus Environment. Our experiential curriculum, smaller size, location, and relationship-based educational opportunities all contribute to the unique effectiveness of Holy Cross College.