First-Year Courses

All students will complete a First-Year Questionnaire that will give us information about their academic interests and their academic background. In addition, you are asked to identify six courses that you would like to enroll in during your first year at the College. You will need to mark one of the courses as your first choice and another one as your second choice. The College will pre-enroll you in either your first choice or your second choice course in July. Before completing the Questionnaire and Course Preference Form, you should review the courses offered for first-year students.

The subject list below links to the course descriptions of the various courses available to you in the Fall. We strongly encourage you to discuss your first-year course interests during your Academic Advising meeting in June. If you have additional questions, you can also contact your Class Dean, Rob Bellin, at 508-793-2532 or classdean2028@holycross.edu.

In either case, you can begin filling out the online First-Year Questionnaire and Course Preference Form in STAR on May 31, and you should complete it no later than 6 p.m. (EDT) on June 21. You can access the First-Year Questionnaire and Course Preference Form using the following navigation: 

  • Enter your network User ID (username) and network passphrase to log in to STAR. [If you have not logged in to STAR in over a month, you may be asked to first log in using your Gsuite (Gmail) address and password as part of 2-factor authentication.] 
  • Once in STAR on the for Students page, click on Student Center and choose 1st Year Preferences from the ‘go to...’ drop-down menu toward the top left of the page.
Academic Programs 
AccountingHealth Professions
Africana StudiesHebrew
AnthropologyHistory
ArabicInternational Studies
Asian StudiesItalian
BiologyLatin
Center for Interdisciplinary StudiesLatin American, Latinx, and Caribbean Studies
ChemistryMathematics
Chinese StudiesMusic
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and SocietyNaval Science
ClassicsNeuroscience
Computer SciencePeace and Conflict Studies
Critical Race and Ethnic StudiesPhilosophy
Deaf StudiesPhysics
EconomicsPolitical Science
EducationPsychology
EngineeringReligious Studies
EnglishRussian
Environmental StudiesSociology
FrenchSpanish
Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s StudiesStudies in World Literatures
GeosciencesTheatre and Dance
GermanVisual Arts – History
GreekVisual Arts – Studio