Academics

Below is a snapshot of the academics at each program:

Beijing

• 20 hours/week of Chinese learning

• One-on-one sessions

• Full-time language pledge

• Out-of-class learning & assignments

• Host University: Capital Normal University

Shanghai

• Diverse English-taught electives

• Chinese language courses 

• Internship elective

• Out-of-class learning and assignments

• Host University: Donghua University

Taiwan

• Small class sizes for targeted language learning

• 15 hours of Chinese language instruction per week

• English-taught electives with plenty of out-of-class learning

• Language partners

• Internship elective option

• Host University: National Taiwan University (NTU)

The Holy Cross credit approval system works like this: 

1. After you arrive at your program's destination, 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 course.  You'll submit your CAFs as soon as possible and no later than 1 week after the start of classes. 

2. Once the Registrar's Office receives your CAFs, they will send classes you'd like to count towards your major(s) and minor(s) 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 Registrar's 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. (If you talk to your advisors before you leave and stay in touch during the course selection process, you should not receive any "surprise" rejections). 

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., auditing, pass/no pass, etc.)

One of the most common questions we get in the Office of Study Abroad is whether or not a certain class abroad will count towards a student's major, minor, concentration, etc. The answer is...maybe! Here's how it works:

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

You need to talk to the official study abroad course evaluator in your department.

You should obtain a course description and, if available, a syllabus for the class before contacting the course evaluator. They appreciate as much context as possible!

If you think a class might work for a common area requirement...

You need to talk to the Registrar's Office! You can send an email to Jared Chapman (jchapman@holycross.edu) to gain clarity on common areas requirements abroad. 

You should obtain a syllabus or some information about the class before contacting Jared. He appreciates as much context as possible!

All of the classes you take when you study abroad will be listed on your Holy Cross transcript, just as they are for any normal semester. Next to each class you take abroad, the letter grade you earned will appear, just as it does for any normal semester at Holy Cross. 

The difference is that the grades you receive abroad will not factor into your cumulative GPA. This means if you leave to study abroad with a 4.0 and you get all 'B's when you are at your host institution, your GPA when you return to Holy Cross will still be a 4.0. The 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 by reflecting the letter grades you earn on your transcript. We also understand that it's normal to struggle in a new academic system. Therefore, we don't factor your grades into your overall GPA. The goal of this policy is to encourage more students to study abroad without fearing what a semester or year away might do to their GPA! 

NO. You cannot and will not take any classes pass/fail abroad. This is one of those "study abroad myths" that for some unknown reason seems to be passed down from study abroad generation to study abroad generation!

Your HC transcript, after your study abroad semester or year, will reflect the grades that you earn abroad. What will NOT be affected is your GPA.

If you utilize accessibility services at Holy Cross, please inform Emma Meade (Assistant Director of Study Abroad), and she will help you research your options at your study abroad location. 

Any academic accommodations you wish to request while abroad should already be on file with the Office of Student Accessibility Services at HC.