Academics

The answers are simple: all majors, and whichever courses meet both your academic needs at HC and your academic interests while in Milan. The only caveat is that ALL classes must be approved for credit by the HC Registrar at the start of the semester (as explained below).

As you consider which classes to enroll in, it is highly recommended during the semester BEFORE you depart for Milan that you consult with both your advisor and the Study Abroad liaison in the department of your major to discuss which courses you may/may not take while abroad that will count towards your major and/or your overall bachelors degree at Holy Cross. Being communicative, staying informed, and planning ahead are the best ways to avoid miscommunications here on campus that may negatively affect your academic trajectory when you return. 

To help you gauge the content of the courses you might take for credit at CIEE/Cattolica, you are free to request past syllabi from professors at either school by contacting CIEE Milan's Academic Director or Cattolica's International Office. Sharing these syllabi with your HC advisor(s) and Jared Chapman, HC Assistant Registrar, will help everyone agree on the credit-wrthiness of that course to your degree requirements at home. 

Reminder: all students are required to take Italian for the duration of their stay in Milan.

You will register for classes at CIEE and Cattolica prior to leaving the U.S. Do do this, you will work closely with CIEE's in-country Academic Director, Angela Lavecchia, and her staff.

The Holy Cross credit approval system works like this: 

1. After you arrive in Italy, you will receive an email from Jared Chapman in the Registrar’s office with instructions for submitting Course Approval Forms (CAFS). You'll submit one CAF per class as soon as possible and no later than 1 week after the start of classes in Milan.
   --> Keep your eyes peeled for Jared's email. The instructions in them as very clear and easy to follow.

2. Once the Registrar's Office receives your CAFs, they will send the information you furnished about the classes you want counted towards your major(s) and/or minor to the official Study Abroad Course Evaluators in the relevant department(s) for approval. The Registrar's office will manage the approval of Common Area requirements themselves. 

3. Once the Study Abroad office hears back from the relevant parties about all of your classes, you will receive an email detailing which classes have/have not been approved.
   --> Remember: if you talk to your advisors during the semester before you study abroad, plus stay in touch with them during course selection, you should not receive any 'surprise' rejections later on! 

Courses that are NOT accepted for Holy Cross Credit:

1. Online or hybrid (partially online) courses;

2. Pre-professional, business, law, and marketing courses;

3. Other non-liberal arts courses;

4. Courses of similar content to those you have already taken;

5. Any major courses required by your major department to be taken at Holy Cross;

6. Courses taken without a letter grade (e.g. NO auditing, or pass/fail classes, etc.)

This has all been explained above. Still need a summary? Here it is:

If you think a class might work for your major(s) and/or minor...

Talk to the Study Abroad Faculty Advisor in that department. Before you do, obtain a syllabus or some information about the class before contacting this HC faculty member. They appreciate as much context as possible.

If you think a class might work for a Common Area requirement...

Write Jared Chapman at the Registrar's Office (jchapman@holycross.edu) and ask.

As CIEE/Cattolica Milan is a new program, information about grades and credit conversion will be supplied after the 2025-26 academic year. This said, you can anticipate that 1 semester-long course taken at either CIEE Milan or Cattolica is the equivalent of 1 semester-long course at Holy Cross. 

Each class you take while studying abroad will be listed on your Holy Cross transcript. The converted letter grade you earned for that course will be listed next to it, just as it does for any course taken at Holy Cross. 

There IS one major difference, however, which is this:  the grades you receive abroad will not be factored into your cumulative GPA. So, if you leave for study abroad with a 3.5, and you earn all 'B's while in Italy, your GPA when you return to Holy Cross will still be a 3.5. 

As you can see, this system is designed with you in mind! Opting to spend a semester, or year, studying in a completely different academic system is brave. We want to celebrate the work you do abroad and the challenges you take on by reflecting on your transcript only the letter grades you earn. We understand that it's normal to struggle in a new academic system or foreign cultural environment, therefore we don't factor your grades into your overall GPA. The goal behind this policy is to encourage more students to study abroad without fearing for what a semester or year away might do to their GPA.

As already mentioned: NO. You cannot, and will not, take any class abroad pass/fail. This is one of those "study abroad myths" that seems to be passed down from generation to generation of study abroad students for unknown reasons! No pass/fail allowed. 

As explained above, your HC transcript will reflect the grades that you earn abroad. What will NOT be affected is your GPA.

If you receive accommodations at Holy Cross, please let the Office of Study Abroad know as soon as possible so we can help you make arrangements with CIEE Milan and the International Office staff at Cattolica. It is important to start planning now.