College of the Holy Cross

The College of the Holy Cross is a leading liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.

Established in 1843 by a group of Jesuits, it is a Roman Catholic institution which remains the sole Jesuit college in the country to exclusively run liberal arts courses for undergraduates. CHC is one of the few Catholic institutions to have ranked among the top 50 liberal arts colleges in the US. It became a coeducational college 1972, having previously admitted men only.

Worcester, which had its main boom during the Industrial Revolution, is famed for its many old-fashioned diners which are prominent across the city. It is around 40 miles east of Boston – the only larger city in the whole of New England – and under 20 miles north of the state’s frontiers with Connecticut and Rhode Island. With CHC one of nine colleges in the city, the metropolis has a high student population.

Religion plays a key role in the college’s day-to-day life, although attendance at mass is no longer compulsory. Similar numbers of male and females students attend CHC, including a fairly significant proportion of international students.

The majority of students choose to live on campus.

Economics and psychology are the subjects studied most commonly at CHC. At times, as much as 30% of the student body has majored in one or the other. Other progammes include accounting, anthropology, chemistry, classics, philosophy, Russian, sociology and Spanish.

Alumni include Nobel Prize-winning surgeon Joseph Murray, US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and sports broadcaster Bill Simmons, who spent years working for ESPN and has recorded a range of podcasts.