College of the Holy Cross supplemental essays
No. College of the Holy Cross asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. Common App. Personal statement required (250-650 words).
That is one piece of writing in all: the Common App personal statement. Early Decision closes November 15, 2026, Early Decision II closes January 15, 2027 and Regular Decision closes January 15, 2027. This page lists College of the Holy Cross's application deadlines and what the application does ask you to write.
Deadlines
| Round | Date |
|---|---|
| Early Decision | November 15, 2026 |
| Early Decision II | January 15, 2027 |
| Regular Decision | January 15, 2027 |
Checked against www.holycross.edu/admissions-aid/how-to-apply. Confirm on the college’s own page before you submit.
The personal statement carries the whole writing signal here.
College of the Holy Cross reads exactly one piece of writing: the Common App personal statement (250-650 words). There is no "why College of the Holy Cross" essay and no short answers, so adding it to a list costs zero extra essays; the statement you already have is the entire file here.
That cuts both ways. With no supplement, there is no second chance to show fit or interest in writing, so the one essay has to do all the character work on its own.
Early Decision (November 15, 2026) is binding: an admit commits you to enroll. A second binding round, Early Decision II, closes January 15, 2027. Regular Decision closes January 15, 2027. Applying early means your essay is final about 9 weeks sooner; that is the revision time you trade for an earlier answer.
Paste your draft, see the verdict before you pay.
Your College of the Holy Cross checklist
One piece of writing, and it is required. The first deadline, Early Decision, is November 15, 2026.
- Common App personal statementRequired250-650 words
It saves these rows to your essay manager, where each one carries a status you set yourself and the prompt stays attached to it. Add your other schools and they land on the same page, in deadline order. Nothing written yet? The topic quiz is free as well.
Free: this page, the checklist, the essay manager and the topic quiz. Paid: a written review of a finished draft, $49 an essay.
Paste your essay for a free read
Have it in a document? or drop one here (Word, PDF, or Text).
Not sure what a review is? What an AI college essay review can and cannot do, and what a college essay grader leaves out. What the read checks against College of the Holy Cross’s own prompts is on the College of the Holy Cross essay review page.
Getting into College of the Holy Cross
College of the Holy Cross admits 17.6% of applicants. The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 1240-1410 on the SAT and 27-32 on the ACT.
About 1 in 6 applicants are admitted, at a college of 3,106 undergraduates.
| Enrolled students | 25th | Median | 75th |
|---|---|---|---|
| SAT total | 1240 | 1340 | 1410 |
| SAT reading and writing | 630 | 670 | 710 |
| SAT math | 610 | 670 | 700 |
| ACT composite | 27 | 30 | 32 |
What SAT score do you need for College of the Holy Cross?
A 1410 puts you in the top quarter of the students who enrolled, a 1340 at their midpoint, and a 1240 at the bottom quarter, meaning one in four enrolled students scored below it. The same three points on the ACT are 27, 30 and 32. A quarter of an enrolled class scoring under the 25th percentile is not a rounding error, so a score below the range is a reason to strengthen the rest of the application rather than a reason not to apply.
US Department of Education, College Scorecard (2026-09-17). Percentiles describe students who enrolled, not everyone admitted. SAT totals are the reading and math bands added together, which is how every source in this market reports them and is an approximation of about 10 to 20 points, because the two sections are correlated.
- What SAT score do you need for College of the Holy Cross?
- College of the Holy Cross sets no minimum. Among students who enrolled, the middle 50% scored 1240-1410 on the SAT: a 1240 sits at the 25th percentile, 1340 at the median and 1410 at the 75th. A score at or above 1410 is a clear strength in the application; below 1240 it is the part of the file the rest has to make up for. These are the figures College of the Holy Cross reports to the US Department of Education, released in the College Scorecard of 2026-09-17.
- What ACT score do you need for College of the Holy Cross?
- The middle 50% of enrolled students scored 27-32 on the ACT, with a composite of 30 at the median. There is no cutoff: a quarter of the enrolled class scored below 27. Reported by College of the Holy Cross to the US Department of Education, College Scorecard release of 2026-09-17.
- What GPA do you need for College of the Holy Cross?
- The honest answer is that the federal data behind this page does not contain one. Colleges report their admit rate and their enrolled students' test scores to the Department of Education; they do not report a GPA distribution, so any site quoting an exact average GPA for College of the Holy Cross is either reading that college's own Common Data Set or estimating. What the reported data does say is that College of the Holy Cross admits 17.6% of applicants, and the more selective a college is, the closer to the top of the class its admitted students sit and the more the strength of your course load counts alongside the number itself.
- How hard is it to get into College of the Holy Cross?
- College of the Holy Cross admits 17.6% of the people who apply, which is about 1 in 6 applicants. At that rate no set of numbers makes admission likely, a perfect one included, because the college turns away far more qualified applicants than it takes. Strong grades and scores get the application read; the essays, the recommendations and what you have actually done decide it from there.
What College of the Holy Cross costs after grant aid, by family income, from the same federal data.
Sort your whole college list into reaches, targets and likelies, or find colleges that fit your GPA and test scores. Both are free and neither needs an account.
College of the Holy Cross essay questions, answered
- Does College of the Holy Cross have supplemental essays?
- No. College of the Holy Cross asks for no supplemental essays in 2026-27. The Common App personal statement is the only writing in the application. It runs 250 to 650 words.
- How many essays do you write for College of the Holy Cross in 2026-27?
- One: the Common App personal statement. There are no College of the Holy Cross supplements in 2026-27, so adding this school to a list costs no extra essays.
Schools with similar admit rates
College of the Holy Cross admits 17.6% of applicants. The colleges either side of it in our set by admit rate, most selective first, each with its own prompts and deadlines: University of Virginia (16.8%), Babson College (17.1%), Denison University (17.4%), Colorado College (18.5%), Vassar College (18.6%), University of Miami (18.9%).