Special Courses

Some courses at Holy Cross are specifically designed to support health professions students. 

Two students working in a lab

The Health Professions Advising Office coordinates access to certain courses where enrollment is by permission only. To gain access to courses where enrollment is by permission only, students must register with health professions advising and promptly reply to the email sent seeking interest in the classes before the stated deadline. Emails are usually sent just before enrollment advising. There are limited seats in these classes.

Courses by Permission of Health Professions Office Only

Biol 171 & 172 - Anatomy and Physiology 1 & 2 (Fall, Spring)

These courses in human anatomy and physiology are designed for students interested in allied health, and not medical, dental, or veterinary school. The prerequisite is Biol 161 or 162. These courses do not count toward the biology major. Students seeking entry to medical school (and biology majors) should instead take Biol 213 Comparative Vertebrate Morphology and Biol 390 Physiology.

Biol 210 - Microbiology for Allied Health (Spring) 

This course in microbiology is designed for students interested in allied health, and not medical, dental, or veterinary school. The prerequisites are Biol 161 and Chem 181. This course does not count toward the biology major. Biology majors and students seeking entry to medical school should instead take Biol 223 Microbiology (Fall) which has additional prerequisites.

Limited Seats May Be Available (By Permission)

Socl 101 - The Sociological Perspective 

This class is open to first- and second-year students only. If you are a third- or fourth-year student and need a seat in this course, contact the course instructor. However, it is likely that the course will not be open to third- and fourth-year students. The Health Professions Advising Office is occasionally given limited seats to permission in some semesters.

Psych 100 - Introduction to Psychology

This class is open to first- and second-year students only. If you are a third- or fourth-year student and need a seat in this course, contact the course instructor.

Alternatives if Holy Cross Courses Cannot Be Taken

Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts (HECCMA)

If you were unable to obtain a seat in a course you need for your health professions graduate school, you may want to consider taking a course through HECCMA, the Higher Education Consortium of Central Massachusetts.

Holy Cross students may register for one course per semester at one of these colleges as part of their Holy Cross tuition, and the courses will appear on the Holy Cross transcript. Information for enrolling in courses can be found on the HECCMA website. Permission of the class dean is required.

Summer/Winter/Post-Bacc Courses 

Students may take courses at other institutions during breaks or even after graduation. However, students should be careful to determine that the courses meet requirements of individual graduate schools. For example, some accept online courses (and some do not), and some accept community college credit (and some do not). Not all courses may be transferred to Holy Cross.

To be eligible for transfer, a course must meet an academic program or college requirement (health professions advising is not an academic program). Class dean consent is also required. However, untransferred courses may still be used to meet graduate school requirements, and are considered by the Health Professions Advising Committee in their evaluations. They can also be used as prerequisites for Holy Cross courses. Students should speak to a health professions advisor, class dean, academic advisor or professor before taking a course at another institution.

Additional Courses of Interest

  • Math 220 - Statistics: This course is an appropriate course to meet the statistics requirement of medical and other health professions schools for students who do not have a statistics course in their major.
  • Phil 250 - Medical Ethics
  • Rels 230 - Theological Perspectives on Medical Ethics
  • Anth 260 - Medical Anthropology (note: ANTH 101 is not required as a prerequisite)
  • Socl 278 - Gender, Body, Health
  • Span 219 - Directed Independent Medical Spanish
  • History 145 - History of Medicine
  • Theater 101 - Basic Acting
  • Health Care Management (Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, Academic Internship Program)