Stanford University

Stanford University Introduction

I spent the summer after my senior year of high school vacillating between nervous anticipation of my upcoming life at Stanford and sheer terror at the huge transition I would soon make. Hailing from the border city of Tijuana, Mexico, I thought I was in for an enormous culture shock. I loved my rowdy home city, where the potent mix of tourists and travelers always guaranteed an interesting, if not scenic, ambiance. I was worried Stanford was nothing more than a conglomerate of libraries: wealthy in knowledge certainly, but perhaps alienated from the turbulence that made life colorful and challenging. Surpassing these cultural misgivings was the fear that I wouldn’t measure up to Stanford’s rigorous academic standards. I was in awe of Stanford; its reputation for academic excellence haunted my summer when I seriously doubted whether I belonged in such a place.

The first day of Freshmen Orientation proved my misgivings both right and wrong. As for my worry that Stanford would be too sheltered, I couldn’t have been further from the truth. The first day of Orientation I realized I was now much more exposed to life than I had ever been. Meeting students from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and every region of the United States drove home the point that Stanford was offering me the world on a plate. I was now privy to as many cultures, ideas, and challenges as my mind could handle. Stanford was going to be anything but sheltered, and the colorful life I had known and loved in Tijuana would be surpassed by the remarkable diversity and experiences available to me at Stanford.

As for my awe of Stanford’s academics, the first day of Orientation did not prove me wrong. If anything, meeting my peers confirmed how impressive Stanford students were. They were all so fascinatingly sharp that my fearfulness of Stanford’s academic excellence quickly turned into a feeling of gratitude. I was glad Stanford students lived up to their reputation, and I knew I would only be the richer for having such a stimulating undergraduate experience, both culturally and academically.

Life at Stanford is about unlimited possibilities. Stanford students roam the art-filled halls in Paris’s famed Musée d’Orsay, form part of the White House’s work force, and command the attention of fifteen Nobel Laureates on the faculty. As a Stanford undergraduate, you can make the Galapagos Islands your classroom, or stay on campus and enjoy the more than eight million volumes in our libraries, not to mention the technical facilities that advance our nation’s scientific knowledge daily. Stanford channels the world’s resources into its students, transforming them into tomorrow’s innovators. Stanford alumni are responsible for such household names as Yahoo!, Google, the laser, GPS Technology, Grapes of Wrath, and One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The boundless resources at Stanford create a vibrancy on campus, infecting students with a sense of purpose and intellectual ambition. Stanford students have wildly differing interests: a single group of friends may include a computer scientist, a budding novelist, or a dedicated public servant, all of whom would be well served by Stanford’s curriculum and extracurricular possibilities.

Balancing the unparalleled academic possibilities are Stanford’s extracurricular activities. Stanford has received twelve consecutive Directors’ Cups, an award recognizing the top all-around athletic program in the NCAA Division I. Stanford’s stellar sports program not only injects its undergraduate body with some of the most dedicated and talented athletes in the country, but it also creates a powerful feeling of Stanford pride and unity among its students. Aside from its sports program, Stanford students have created more than six hundred student-led organizations, ranging from the SIMPS (Stanford Improvisers) to the yo-yo club, to hip-hop dance groups. Each quarter ninety-nine percent of the 6,600 undergraduates either reside on campus or are participating in one of nine off-campus studies programs sponsored by the university; residence life is an integral and vital aspect of the Stanford experience. Grouping so many young adults together leads to a rich variety of activities, clubs, and social events, guaranteeing that undergraduate life is anything but dull.

Best of all, Stanford students never have to put their activities (academic or extracurricular) on hold. Thanks to its gloriously mild weather, students literally enjoy Stanford every day of the year. Stanford’s perennial sun also serves to highlight its beautiful campus of more than 8,000 acres located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains and less than an hour from San Francisco and the Pacific Ocean. Students also relish being near attractions such as Lake Tahoe, Monterey Bay, Big Sur, and Yosemite National Park.

Stanford is committed to offering its undergraduates an education that is unrivaled among research universities. Recognized as one of the world’s leading research and teaching institutions, Stanford has one of the most renowned faculties in the nation. Stanford’s extraordinary students—men and women of all races, ethnicities, ages, and experiences—are distinguished by their love of learning and desire to contribute in a significant way to the greater community. From their first day on campus, students explore virtually limitless opportunities that fuel their intellectual passions and help them fulfill their academic and personal promise. They are encouraged to share their interests with members of all campus communities, resulting in a vigorous intellectual life outside the classroom as well as inside.

Let us not be afraid to outgrow old thoughts and ways and dare to think on new lines as to the future work under our care. — Jane Stanford

The entrepreneurial spirit that inspired Leland and Jane Stanford to establish the institution and that later helped shape the discoveries and innovations of Silicon Valley, located right at Stanford’s doorstep, cultivates an environment of intense creativity. Students at Stanford learn from policy makers, inventors, entrepreneurs, and scholars involved in the most pressing issues facing the world and in turn become involved themselves in discovering new knowledge that will inform the future.

Simply put, the ways you will think and live tomorrow are being shaped at Stanford today.

Stanford University Academics

Stanford prides itself on its quality of education at the undergraduate level. More than seventy percent of undergraduate classes have twenty or fewer students, so the undergraduate experience is extremely personalized. Exclusive to freshmen and sophomores are more than 200 small-group seminars where students can enjoy close interactions with professors. With a small student-to-faculty ratio, it’s easy for both students and faculty to get to know each other. There are more than sixty majors from which to choose, including several interdisciplinary majors, and you can create your own major with the help of a faculty member. In addition, you are free to take any class at Stanford, including the Medical, Law, and Business schools. This freedom to explore beyond undergraduate classes allows students to get a glimpse into what graduate school might be like, thus letting them make informed decisions about their academic futures.

The summer before my sophomore year, I went back to Stanford a few weeks early to take a condensed seminar before the school year started. Sophomore College, as these three-week seminars are called, was one of my favorite classes. My classmates and I concentrated on the dichotomy of “God and Evil.” Through philosophy and religious studies, we studied how people justified their idea of a benign god when evil was so clearly present in the world. The sessions were filled with passionate debate as my classmates and I all lived, ate, and breathed this frustrating yet fascinating dichotomy. Since we were just about the only students on campus, and we were all housed together, we developed into a close-knit community. Our professor took us on outings to San Francisco, and we all dedicated one Saturday to helping a local elementary school clean up its construction site. Sophomore College was a fabulous experience, one where I truly felt I was living the life of an intellectual and expanding that life beyond the classroom into the real world.

Overseas Programs

Stanford students can choose from among nine Stanford campuses around the world. Australia, Beijing, Berlin, Florence, Kyoto, Moscow, Oxford, Paris, and Santiago all host a Stanford campus complete with Stanford faculty. Students earn full Stanford credit while studying at these centers. Each center provides unique research and/or internship opportunities: While Florence and Paris are prime centers for art history research, Kyoto offers engineering students great hands-on skills. Archeology students benefit greatly from the Santiago program.

Aside from these overseas centers, Stanford also offers a myriad of seminars that have taken students to the Galapagos Islands, China, Korea, Russia, and Jerusalem.

Thanks to Stanford’s Overseas Program, I spent six kaleidoscopic months in Paris. Every day I would head out into the city without a map, with the sole purpose of soaking in the city’s ever-changing scenery. One can never fully know Paris; its hundreds of museums are constantly highlighting different cultural movements. Its streets are a revolving door for street fairs, open-air galleries, and impromptu celebrations. Paris is at once a place for introspection and exploration. After a full day of roaming, I would settle in at my favorite café and wonder how the rest of my life could possibly live up to the beauty of my days in Paris.

A Research Institution for Undergraduates

Stanford is a premier research institution, responsible for MRI technology, gene splicing, global positioning systems, DNA micoarray technology, and a host of other inventions contributing significantly to the world. As an undergraduate at Stanford, you will be invited to participate in this innovative research. Student research grants sponsored by the Undergraduate Research Programs provide undergraduates with about $4.1 million each year to pursue their intellectual passions. As with any researcher, students must submit a research proposal in order to receive these grants. Faculty members assist students in the organization and development of the project, but students have full ownership of their project.

With more than 130 research centers, Stanford provides students with the opportunities and resources to research just about any topic, anywhere. Some of the most renowned centers include:

• Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace. Hoover boasts one of the largest collections of twentieth-century political materials.
• Hopkins Marine Station. Located ninety miles south of the campus, students can supplement their marine biology courses with research in this marine laboratory.
• Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve. Twelve hundred acres within a short walk of campus, where protected flora and fauna can be appreciated or studied.
• Stanford Humanities Laboratory. Interdisciplinary humanities laboratory on campus.
• Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Operated for the U.S. Department of Energy, researching particle physics.
• Stanford University Medical Center. Includes dozens of specialized clinics. Located on campus, undergraduates are free to attend classes at the medical school, and frequently become research assistants.
• Woods Institute for the Environment. An interdisciplinary center that serves as the hub for all environmental resaerch and education on campus.

The summer after my sophomore year, having received a $3,000 research grant, I headed to Mexico City to study the modern-day pilgrims who travel to the Basilica of Guadalupe every year. Each day I maneuvered my way through the thousands of pilgrims, trying to understand the religious and cultural impact of and on these worshippers. Witnessing the devotion of the waves of people traveling to the Basilica every day brought a new understanding of the power of religion, and its unifying or destructive effects on cultures. My research also exposed me to the political, familial, and national implications of such popular devotional rituals. Although my research ended with more questions than answers, the research was an invaluable addition to my undergraduate experience.

Stanford University Admissions

The fall of senior year was a miserable time for me. As college pamphlets flooded over my desk and were strewn all over my bedroom floor, I grew more and more confused over my college prospects. I knew I was a good student, but I also thought that there were many good students out there competing for a small number of spots. Now I know that there are more than 3,000 colleges in the United States, and all that unnecessary stress did more damage than good. My advice to high school seniors is to stop putting all that excess tension into your life and consequently your family’s life. This is the last year you get to live with your parents—don’t let your family relationships fall prey to the college stress. Pick a few colleges that would be a good fit for you, and pour your heart out into their applications. The application process varies a little from college to college. Here’s how Stanford’s process works:

Every year Stanford’s Office of Undergraduate Admission assembles a freshman class of 1,600 students out of about 22,000 applicants. Needless to say, getting admitted to Stanford is a complicated and layered process. The selection process weighs everything from extracurricular activities to personal qualities, but academic excellence is far and away the single most important criterion for admission to Stanford.

Each of the 22,000 applications is conscientiously reviewed by as many as five admission officers. The goal of the admission staff is to create a freshman class with a myriad of strengths; every student should contribute a valued talent or life experience to Stanford’s undergraduate body, as well as proven academic excellence. The Office of Undergraduate Admission seeks to admit those students whose distinctions, whatever they may be, prove they would flourish at a place like Stanford. Stanford values both well-rounded and specialized students; it is important to remember that there is no cookie-cutter recipe for admission to Stanford. Stanford’s admission process is truly a personalized one. The application relies heavily on short essays, which allow students to present themselves fully: their motivations, passions, and ideals should resonate throughout the application. Stanford admission officers thus have the privilege of getting to know applicants’ personal strengths as well as their academic achievements and intellectual passions.

Examinations

All applicants, including transfer students and international students, must present official scores from either the SAT Reasoning Test or the ACT with the Optional Writing Test. Stanford also strongly recommends that students submit three SAT Subject Tests scores, specifically the Math IIC and two of the student’s choice. Stanford has no minimum thresholds for grade point average (GPA), test scores, or rank in class. Although there will be plenty of students with perfect test scores and GPAs in its applicant pool, Stanford is looking beyond numerical figures: Stanford seeks to admit intriguing and passionate individuals who will contribute to campus life and take full advantage of the opportunities available to them, and who demonstrate an intellectual vitality that clearly states they derive pleasure from learning for learning’s sake.

Stanford also values exceptional ability in both the arts and athletics. If you are interested in having these talents evaluated in the admission process, consider submitting samples of artwork or auditioning in music, drama, or dance, or communicating with a coach to see if your abilities are competitive within the Stanford Division I program. For information on pursuing these options, visit http://admission.stanford.edu. Please keep in mind that these talents will enhance your application only if you are otherwise well qualified; they will not earn you admission in and of themselves.

Single-Choice Early Action and Interviews

Stanford offers a Single-Choice Early Action option for those students who know clearly that Stanford is their first-choice school and have completed a thorough and thoughtful college search. This option will best serve students who are ready to be evaluated in terms of their high school career by the beginning of November of the senior year. Early candidates should feel confident in their sophomore and junior year programs, and should complete their standardized testing by the October of the senior year. Those offered admission have until May 1 to consider where they will enroll.

Stanford does not require and in fact does not offer interviews as part of the application process. Students and their families may register on-line for and attend “Discover Stanford,” a two-part program consisting of a campus tour and a group information session.

Admission Statistics

The following chart gives some statistics on Stanford’s entering freshman class for fall 2006. Keep in mind that these statistics do not quantify many of the criteria Stanford values in the admission process, including personal qualities, intellectual curiosity, and many other areas of excellence as described above.

Stanford admits students of either sex and any race, color, religion, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the university. It does not discriminate against students on the basis of race, color, handicap, religion, sexual orientation, or national and ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other university-administered programs.

Stanford University Financial Aid

Tuition, room, and board at Stanford costs approximately $43,400 annually. Books and personal expenses are estimated at about $3,200 annually. Stanford is need-blind in its admission process, meaning that applying for financial aid does not affect the admission decision.

This policy applies to students who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents of the United States. International students should refer to the following section. Stanford is committed to providing a financial aid package that will meet the full demonstrated financial need of every admitted U.S. student or permanent resident of the United States.

The process of applying for financial aid requires filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), available on the Web. Stanford also requires all students applying for financial aid to submit the College Scholarship Service (CSS) PROFILE. The university also considers the financial means of the noncustodial parent for applicants whose parents are either divorced or separated. In these cases, the CSS Noncustodial Parent PROFILEmust be filed as well.

More than seventy percent of students at Stanford receive financial aid from internal and/or external sources. Stanford financial aid comes in the form of self-help and gift aid. Self-help refers to student loans and part-time work-study eligibility. While this might sound daunting, the university does not expect anyone to work more than ten hours a week, and the standard loan debt per year is around $4,000. Gift aid is financial support in the form of scholar- ships and grants, and does not need to be repaid.

Stanford also allows students to earn their work-study portion of their financial aid package through community service. This alleviates incoming students’ concern that they will be placed in unfulfilling jobs. Instead, Stanford’s service organization, the Haas Center for Public Service, helps students find rewarding part-time jobs. The popularity of these community service job accounts for the more than 3,000 students who participate in Haas-sponsored activities. In fact, Stanford has ranked first among top universities in dispensing federal work-study money for community service. The Haas Center also works with faculty to combine community service with classroom teaching. These school-based service programs complementing a student’s curriculum include the School of Engineering Precollege program, the East Palo Alto Community Law Project, the Stanford Medical Youth Science Program, and the School of Education’s Stanford/Schools Collaborative.

Financial Aid for International Students

Stanford does not practice need-blind admission for international students, which means the need for financial aid is a consideration in admission. Some international students may be offered admission on the condition that they finance their Stanford education. Financial aid is available to international students on a limited basis.

Stanford University Students

Residential Life at Stanford

More than ninety-nine percent of Stanford students live in Stanford housing or at a Stanford-sponsored off-campus study program each quarter. That translates into a community of 6,600 people under the age of twenty-six all living within a relatively small radius. Because of this, Stanford’s campus is a vibrant residential campus, full of every imaginable student-led organization, from Greek life to political groups, to recreational clubs, to ethnic-cultural organizations and many more.

Looking back on my Stanford career, I miss the residential campus life the most. I will never again be able to walk down the hall and see every friend I love. The immediacy of having your friends next door made everything more exciting. Whether it was chatting happily about our upcoming social events, or ruminating over the uncertainty of our futures, our dorm halls were the epicenter of our friendships. The intimacy of my residential college life helped me form a new family at Stanford, one that will continue to be a central part of my life, regardless of whether we now live close by or not.

Stanford guarantees housing for the four years of a student’s undergraduate career. Stanford’s small-house system includes seventy-eight residences all located within ten minutes walking distance from the center of campus. The houses vary in size and theme, and include: all freshmen houses, sophomore houses, four-class houses, upper-class houses, apartments, crosscultural theme houses, and a handful of Greek houses. Approximately fifteen percent of students participate in the Greek system, making it a fun option for those who are interested, but not letting it command the undergraduate social scene.

Stanford University Athletics

Athletics flourish at Stanford. The glorious California weather, the 8,000 acres of open fields, and the Olympic caliber facilities all contribute to widespread popularity of athletics at Stanford. Not only has Stanford’s athletic department captured the Directors’ Cup for twelve years in a row, but also eight out of ten Stanford students participate in the athletic programs, whether it be at the varsity, intercollegiate, intramural, or club sport levels. Stanford’s expansive campus and idyllic location also provide the perfect setting for hikers, campers, runners, or rock climbers.

A quick list of Stanford’s major athletic facilities includes: Stanford Stadium, Arrillaga Family Sports Center, Artificial Turf field, Avery Aquatic Center, Cobb Track and Angell Field, Maples Pavilion, Stanford Golf Course, Taube Family Tennis Stadium, twenty-six tennis courts, a driving range, riding stables, and plenty of outdoor basketball and volleyball courts scattered throughout campus.

Stanford home games also provide a welcome release for students who relish the idea of showing Cardinal pride, often screaming themselves hoarse to the band music of the most irreverent and colorful band in college sports, the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band.

Prominent Cardinal Athletes

• Football Players: John Elway, former Denver Broncos quarterback; John Lynch, Denver Broncos wide receiver; and Jim Plunkett, Heismen Trophy-winner and former Oakland Raiders quarterback.
• Olympic Medalists: Janet Evans, Eric Heiden, Misty Hyman, Bob Mathias, Pablo Morales, Summer Sanders, Debra Thomas, and Jenny Thompson
• Basketball Players: Jennifer Azzik, Jason and Jarron Collins, Kristen Folkl, Brevin Knight, Mark Madsen, Kate Starbird, and Jamila Wideman
• Baseball Players: Mike Mussina, and Cy Young-winners Jack McDowell and Jim Lonborg
• Golfers: Notah Begay, Casey Martin, Tom Watson, and Tiger Woods

Cardinal Championships

• Total National Championships: 101
• Total Individual NCAA Championships: 393 (most in the nation)
• Total NCAA Championships (NCAA rank): 90 (No. 2)
• Total Men’s NCAA Championships (NCAA rank): 57 (No. 3)
• Total Women’s NCAA Championships (NCAA rank): 33 (No. 1)
• NCAA Team Championships Since 1980: 93 (most in the nation)
• NCAA Team Championships Since 1990: 50 (most in the nation)

Stanford University Traditions

Stanford traditions are priceless in their sheer wackiness. Incoming freshmen are accepted into the Stanford fold in the freshman right of passage, Full Moon on the Quad. During the first full moon of the quarter, departing seniors welcome incoming freshmen to Stanford with a kiss. The sight of more than 3,000 people kissing under a full moon is unforgettable. Serenaded by the crazy Leland Stanford Junior University Band, Full Moon on the Quad is one raucous night.

Stanford traditions are rooted in irreverence. — Libusha Kelly, class of 1997

Every Sunday night, Stanford students put down their books to go enjoy a movie at Flicks, a student-run movie house. You can expect a rowdy paper fight during the movie’s beginning credits as well as dorm chants and sporadic hissing from the crowd. Every student looks forward to the last flick of their undergraduate career, a free showing of Dustin Hoffman’s The Graduate.

The Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band traditionally dons wild, colorful costumes and sports uniquely decorated instruments. Known for their irreverent halftime shows, the Band is one Stanford tradition that keeps Stanford jumping. Backed by Stanford’s ever-energetic mascot, the Tree, the Band is the wackiest of Stanford’s wacky traditions

Stanford University Alumni

Stanford students go on to accomplish whatever they set their minds to. Stanford’s broad liberal arts education imbues its students with an education applicable to any number of disciplines. Among Stanford’s alumni are world leaders, technological innovators, and people of great influence.

Career Development Center

While a tremendous number of Stanford young alumni go on to pursue graduate studies, some set off into the real world with the help of Stanford’s Career Development Center (CDC). The CDC provides individual counseling at all stages of a student’s career planning and hosts a strong recruiting program, where industries and employers come to campus each quarter to recruit new graduates. Stanford alumni are also a fantastic resource for young alumni and recent graduates.

Stanford Alumni Association

The personal and academic connections students enjoy at Stanford continue to flourish after graduation. For those alumni who wish to continue their academic growth after graduation, the Stanford Alumni Association (SAA) offers an education series entitled “Stanford Reads.” Designed to connect Stanford alumni throughout the world, “Stanford Reads” includes an on-line book salon hosted by a Stanford professor. For those alumni who wish to reconnect with their Stanford peers in recreational ways, there is a yearly Reunion Homecoming weekend full of Cardinal activities, as well as opportunities to vacation with fellow alumni in various locations around the world. These Stanford vacations have included such destinations as the Arenal Volcano of Costa Rica, the Amazonian rain forests, and the mountains of Tibet.

Prominent Grads

While this list is by no means exhaustive, here are a few Stanford alumni who have made amazing contributions to the world:

• Vinton Cerf, Internet protocol co-author, “The father of the Internet”
• Doris Fisher, Cofounder of Gap, Inc.
• William Hewlett and David Packard, Founders of Hewlett-Packard Co.
• Philip Knight, Chairman and CEO of Nike, Inc.
• Ted Koppel, Television Journalist
• Sandra Lerner and Leonard Bosack, Founders of Cisco Systems
• Charles Schwab, Chairman and CEO of Charles Schwab Corp.
• Chih-Yuan “Jerry” Yang and David Filo, Founders of Yahoo!
• U.S. Supreme Court Justices: Stephen Breyer, Anthony Kennedy, Sandra Day O’Connor (former), and the late William Rehnquist
• U.S. Senators: Max Baucus, Jeff Bingaman, Kent Conrad, Dianne Feinstein, and Ron Wyden
• Ehud Barak, Former Israeli Prime Minister
• Warren Christopher, Former U.S. Secretary of State
• Fred Savage, Actor
• Jennifer Connelly, Actress
• Herbert Hoover, Former U.S. President
• Sergey Brin and Lawrence Page, Google Founders
• William Perry, Former U.S. Secretary of Defense
• Alejandro Toledo, President of Peru

Carnegie Foundation Classification

Research Universities (very high research activity)

General Characteristics

Highest offering	Doctoral degree
Calendar System	Quarter
Years of college work required	N/A
Variable Tuition

Special Learning Opportunities

Distance Learning
ROTC — Army / Navy / Air Force	— / /
Study Abroad
Weekend College
Teacher Certification