The College of the Holy Cross has taken a lot of heat from Ivy Coach over the years. This private Jesuit liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts, didn’t escape our scrutiny after we reported on their deception when they alleged not to count an applicant’s need-blind status against them. (For those of you who are wondering, no highly selective school is truly need-blind. If they were, they wouldn’t take in enough money to be able to cover their students’ financial aid in the first place without dipping into their endowments!). We also applauded Holy Cross when they decided to confess their sins and become more transparent about considering the financial needs of their applicants (because we believe in second chances, of course!).

As this saga unfolded, Holy Cross experienced a steep decline in its acceptance rate. Is the moral of the story that transparency pays off, and students want to get into a school that’s honest with them about the admissions process? Or is there another mystery factor at play? There’s no need for idle speculation. Let’s unpack it here:

College of the Holy Cross Acceptance Rate Over Ten Years

Holy Cross Class Year	Overall Acceptance Rate
Class of 2029	Not Yet Released
Class of 2028	21.10%
Class of 2027	36.36%
Class of 2026	43.00%
Class of 2025	37.94%
Class of 2024	34.22%
Class of 2023	38.01%
Class of 2022	39.60%
Class of 2021	38.46%
Class of 2020	37.03%
Class of 2019	43.34%
Class of 2018	32.97%

Ten years ago, around one out of every three applicants to Holy Cross could expect to get in. That number would increase and/or stay the same over the next nine years. In fact, if you were to cut out the Class of 2028, you might look at this data and fail to notice any clear trendline at all except a slight increase in acceptance (which flies in the face of the trend toward decreasing acceptance at other elite institutions). 

However, this would all change when the Class of 2028 was tallied. The acceptance rate shot down by 15.26% in a single cycle — such a steep decline that we at Ivy Coach initially thought it could be a misreported figure! But it’s true: in one short year, Holy Cross went from accepting 36.36% of applicants to a slim 21.10%. Why? It’s certainly not due to a pandemic-related policy shift to test-optional admissions, which caused similar declines at other schools, as Holy Cross has been test-optional since 2005. Maybe students simply responded to their shift towards need-awareness transparency (although this isn’t likely either. What high schoolers are reading press releases about financial aid?)

Perhaps a new generation of pious learners wants to receive a world-class Jesuit education. Either way, Ivy Coach’s famously accurate crystal ball predicts that acceptance rates will remain low in the upcoming cycles — great news for admissions officers at Holy Cross, but not so great news for prospective applicants. We wouldn’t blame you for feeling daunted in the face of these recent statistics. But don’t fret. You can still do plenty to optimize your child’s odds of admission.

Ivy Coach’s Assistance With Holy Cross Acceptance

If you’re looking to develop a strategy for getting into Holy Cross that does not succumb to the many pitfalls that applicants face on their path to a highly selective school, your prayers have been answered. Ivy Coach’s clients routinely gain admission to Holy Cross by applying with singular hooks that distinguish their applications from the rest. We will work with your child to help them showcase their specific talent, passion, or pursuit and their alignment with Holy Cross’ Jesuit values to admissions officers at this historic school, significantly improving their odds of admission despite record-low acceptance rates. After all, college admissions isn’t random — it’s highly predictable, and we at Ivy Coach know the secret formula!

If you’d like to get started, fill out our complimentary consultation form and we’ll be in touch with an outline of our services.