There are certain things that you must take into consideration, before selecting and applying for a college. You want to be sure that the college offers admission to a larger percentage of the applicants that applied to study with them. You also want to look at their requirements to determine if you can meet them or move on to a second choice. If you are looking to apply for the College of The Holy Cross, you might consider taking a comfortable position, sit back, and continue reading for a better grasp of your choice college before taking that leap of faith. Let us know about the College Of The Holy Cross Acceptance Rate GPA Requirement.
What Is The Acceptance Rate And GPA Requirement Of The College Of The Holy Cross?
As of March 2022, during the last admission exercise of the College of The Holy Cross, an acceptance rate of 43 percent was recorded. This result was within a 5 percent increase from their last acceptance rate, which was 38 percent in 2021. That number has not been stable but is steadily on the rise. In 2020, their acceptance rate was 34.2 percent. In 2019 and 2018, they recorded an acceptance rate of 37.03 percent, 40 percent in 2017, and 38 percent in 2016. Concerning the GPA requirements for the College of The Holy Cross, this college does not have a minimum GPA requirement which they use as a yardstick to consider applicants for admission into the college. Although, few reviews from students have shown that applicants with GPAs between 3.80 and 4.02 are likely to be selected or considered for admission into the college.
This Worcester-based college, lying in the heart of the city of Massachusetts, earlier this year, had 6,498 students who applied for the 2025 graduating class. Of the 6,498 applicants, 2,786 students were admitted into their programs. This number of admitted students made for a 43 percent acceptance rate. When compared to other schools that are considerably better than this college, or those located in better places, this acceptance rate is relatively high. It means that the College Of The Holy Cross will accept 4 applicants out of every 10 applicants who apply. Also, it is possible that the 5th applicant on that list of 10 applicants if he or she gives the college another try, there is a high chance that at the third attempt, the applicant will be selected.
The story is somewhat different when you’re talking about The Holy Cross’ GPA requirements. Yes, there is no obvious or blatantly stated minimum GPA a student must have to be considered capable of successfully scaling through college. How this statement of “no minimum GPA requirement” will look publicly, may override the image The Holy Cross is trying to paint. The college believes that students should not be denied access to education based on GPA level. Hence, the school has no minimum GPA requirement. This can send an impression that the college has no standard education. It is believed that for standards to be reached, benchmarks must be set. What then is the rationale behind an academic institution not having standards? On the flip side, since the inception of this college, most students have recorded having average GPAs of 3.80 to 4.02. It may not seem like The Holy Cross are keen on academic results and performance but the fact that they produce and have more students above the average GPA, for an overall 5.0 grading system, may lay to rest the debate of whether or not the college is academically standardized. Not to mention that the school will not only accept students with high GPAs, but other qualities can also help secure your admission to The Holy Cross. So if you have an averagely low GPA, do ensure that you possess leadership skills, zest for voluntary services, and other admirable characteristics, to earn you a place in this college.
All About GPA And How It Works
Grade Point Average (GPA), connotes a scale on which every student‘s performance is measured. The overall scale is 4.0 or 5.0. Most institutions and academic organizations use the former to determine a student’s average performance in the various courses and classes taken. It determines a larger part of an individual’s chance of going to college. If you must stand a good chance of being accepted into your desired college, you must begin working on your GPA to look like your dream college GPA requirement from the first day you resume classes for your final semester in high school.
If your dream college is like The Holy Cross, which does not have a minimum GPA requirement for applicants willing to apply, you must aim for the top. For a college operating under a 4.0 scale, you must aim for 3.5 and above. For those using the 5.0 scale, 4.0 and above should be your target. It is best to always have a college in mind, read about their requirements, and prepare your GPA in advance.
How To Calculate GPA
Whether you are a college or high school student, the prices of calculating GPA remain the same. Before we go into the term proper, here are a few terminologies you need to know:
1. Credit Scale
2. Credit Unit
3. Grade
1. Credit Scale. These are several alphabets given to mark the different levels of a student’s performance in a particular subject while some starts with 5.0, others are mostly 4.0. Your percentage is used to determine whether you scored an A, B, C, D, or F. Anything above 70 is A, 60-69 is B, 50-69 is C,40-59 is D. 0-39 is F.
2. Credit Unit: This is a number attached to every subject or class taken. Every course has its credit unit, depending on how tasking it is. It can go as low as 2 credit units, and as high as 10 credit units. The school determines what credit unit to attach to a subject or class, and it is very essential to understand this when you want to calculate your GPA.
3. Grade: This is the total number of grades a student scores in a class or subject.
Having established the above, the formula to calculate your Grade Point Average is Total Grades Earned, divided by Total Credit Units attempted. See the example below:
A student had the following grades for five different subjects:
Mathematics = 50
English = 70
Biology = 40
Biology Lab = 60
Mathematics class has 15 credit units
English class has 15 credit units
The biology lab class has 15 credit units
The biology class has 15 credit units.
Going back to the formulae for calculating GPA,
Total Grades Earned = 220. This answer was arrived at by adding together all the grades earned for each subject.
Total Credit Unit attempt = 60. This answer was also arrived at by summing up all the credit units for the subject.
Total Grades Earned, divided by Total Credit Units attempted= 220 divided by 60 which gives a GPA of 3.66666667. Approximately 3.66, or in some cases 3.67 (if the figure third figure after the decimal is more than 5, that is approximated to become one, and it is added to the second figure after the decimal, hence 3.67)
Only the two figures or at least three figures after the decimal should be considered.
Why Is Important?
GPA for several colleges and universities forms part of the factors the admission body will consider before admitting a student. Although this is not the most important factor the school will consider before awarding admission to a prospective student, it forms part of the major criterion for admission. Schools that consider students, GPA before awarding admissions will not take anything short of an average student. Most times, they go for those students above average. It is only in sine exceptional cases, that an average or well below average student is offered admission into a highly selected and selective college or university.
On the student’s part, your GPA is not something that can change in the blink of an eye. You must have started working on your GPA at the beginning of the semester. You must do this while taking into cognizance the required GPA for your dream college. Now, do you see why it’s important to start your search early before your semester begins? That way, you must have had enough time to research all the colleges of your choice, carefully select those that offer your program, those with favorable tuition and payment plans, and also get heads up on how hard you need to work, to meet up to the GPA requirement. That way, you start the semester with a target at heart and avoid any fire brigade approach to meeting up to the required GPA of your college.
Why Must I Consider Acceptance Rate?
Every student is interested in knowing what chances they have, to be selected by their desired college. In the same vein, every student has an idea of what kind of college they want to go to, their academic standing, and what they hope to benefit from studying there. A lot of times, students weigh the standard of college by their acceptance rate, when they are low, they consider the school to be highly competitive and only the best gets in. When they are high, it is sometimes believed that they accept any Tom, Dick, and Harry. This May or may not be true, but before we tell you our stand on this matter, we will take a quick look at what an acceptance rate is, and why a student must add this to his or her list of what to consider when deciding on what college to apply for.
The acceptance rate of a school is simply the number of students admitted to the school as opposed to the number of those who applied. This simple factor makes a very bold statement about the school, and high school graduates are always keen to know what a college’s acceptance rate is. When a school has a total number of 80,000 students seeking admission into their system, the number of students they eventually admit determines what their acceptance rate for that academic session is. When a school admits 20 to 40 percent of the number of students that applied to study with them, such schools are considered to be schools with a high acceptance rate. Some colleges take as high as 50 percent of their applicants. While there are schools that accept 4 to 10 percent of their applicants. The likes of Harvard, MIT, and Stanford University are under the low acceptance rate category.
Why is this important you may ask? Well if your desired college has low a acceptance rate say 4 to 7 percent acceptance rate, it automatically registers in your mind that gaining admission into this school is through the eye of a needle. You automatically begin to get yourself and see if you’re truly qualified for admission to such an academic institution, or if at high school graduation, you will be qualified. This will help you decide if you need to do more to your grades, qualifications, and personality, or scrap this institution out of your list, and move to a close substitute or similar option.
On the other hand, it is possible that after having searched for your college’s acceptance rate, you realize that it hits 50 percent or higher. This implies that your college may not be as standardized as you initially thought. If you’re very concerned about excellence, standards, class, and prestige, you may likely lose interest in that school and seek admission elsewhere. Generally, acceptance rates of schools just tell you what chance you have to be given admission into an academic institution, and in some cases, if an institution is a competitive one and stiff in their admission process. It is important in informing your decision of what higher institution to apply for.
Other Admission Requirements By The Holy Cross
Other than your GPA, the College of The Holy Cross will require the following from prospective students, to be considered for admission:
1. You’re required to pay an application fee of 60 dollars.
2. 2 letters of recommendation must be provided. This letter of recommendation speaks volume about you, written by people that know you and has seen you at your best. The Holy Cross requires that this letter comes from two persons your teacher, and a counselor respectively. The letter carries information about your qualities, abilities, and strength. They are like a testimonial of who you are.
3. Essay: Most importantly, The Holy Cross will request that you submit an essay otherwise known as your letter of motivation. This is a changed you’re given by the school to sell yourself. Do not hold back. Although you’re limited by the number of words, you can still impress the admission panel using your essay.
4. All your academic documents must be ready, an official means of identification like a birth certificate will be required. If you’re an international student, an English proficiency test result will be required as well, alongside proof of financial stability and passport.
5. You have another opportunity to be interviewed by the admission panel where it is required that you prove to them that behind what you have on paper, maybe a bad GPA, you’re still a good candidate who is fit for admission.
About The Holy Cross
This is a private liberal art college founded by art Rev Benedict Fenwick. This college has a total staff of 342 will 306 full-time staff and 36 part-time staff, with over 3,400 students. The college which starred as an all-boys college located in Worcester Massachusetts, United States, seated on 174 acres of land, today has a mixture of girls and boys students. The college has a religious affiliation with the Jesuit Catholic Church, hence they advance and uphold spirituality as part of their learning process.
Conclusion
Your journey of resuming college starts from your final semester in high school. You begin to scout for your desired college, the requirements, especially GPA requirement and their acceptance rate. You must never make the mistake of doing this scouting after graduating because most times you find out that you cannot go to your desired college because you have not gathered the requirements to stand a chance to be selected.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Does the College of The Holy Cross admit students with a 2.79 GPA?
They may or may not accept an applicant with a 2.79 GPA because they do not only consider GPA as a selection criterion, other supporting factors may give weight to your application.
2. How much is The Holy Cross application fee?
60 dollars.
