Admission News
Stanford concludes transformative fundraising campaign
February 10, 2012
Stanford University today announced the successful conclusion of The Stanford Challenge, having raised $6.2 billion to seek solutions to global problems and educate leaders for a more complex world.
The five-year fundraising campaign was launched in October 2006 with a goal of $4.3 billion. The effort ended Dec. 31, with the final tally of gifts completed this month.
Although the campus-wide campaign benefited every school and every part of the university, a key priority for The Stanford Challenge was to reduce traditional disciplinary and organizational boundaries to bring together experts from all across campus.
"The Stanford Challenge has transformed the way our faculty and students work," said Stanford President John L. Hennessy. "We've undertaken a new model in higher education, with experts from different fields joining together not only in research, but also in teaching. This kind of collaboration has enabled Stanford to assume a larger role in addressing global problems. We are already making a greater difference."
Read more about the Stanford Challenge »
Trustees approves sites for two new arts buildings
January 13, 2012
The Stanford University Board of Trustees has approved sites for two new buildings: the McMurtry Building and the museum building for the Anderson Collection at Stanford University. These facilities will be critical to expanding and enhancing the role the arts play throughout campus.
Trustees gave concept and site approval—the first two steps in the university's construction approval process—to the two buildings at their Dec. 12-13 meeting.
The McMurtry Building, the future home of the Department of Art & Art History, will be located on Roth Way near the Cantor Arts Center. The building was named in honor of Burton "Burt" and Deedee McMurtry, longtime friends of the university, who provided a $30 million gift toward its creation. Burt McMurtry (MS '59, PhD '62) is a former chair of the Board of Trustees.
The museum building for the Anderson Collection at Stanford University, which is one of the foremost collections of post-World War II American art, will be located on the corner of Lomita Drive and Campus Drive West, north of the Cantor Arts Center. Read more »
2011 Annual Report features research highlights from Stanford professors
January 9, 2012
Stanford scholars are engaged in ongoing basic and applied research that creates new knowledge and benefits society. See examples from the 2011 Annual Report.
Winter Closure
December 16, 2011
The Office of Undergraduate Admission and the Stanford Visitor Center will be closing at 4 PM on December 16th and will reopen Tuesday, January 3rd. Happy holidays!
Regular Decision Application Deadline
December 16, 2011
Freshman Applicants for admission are strongly advised to read this important update.
In the past a large number of would-be applicants to Stanford mistakenly believed they successfully submitted their applications via the Common Application Web site when, in fact, they did not. As a result, we were unable to consider their applications for admission. Please be sure that the applicant has submitted the following pieces by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on the day of the deadline:
- The Common Application
- The Stanford Supplement to the Common Application
- The Common Application Fee (or Fee Waiver Request)
Please be advised that applicants must successfully complete and submit their applications online by the January 1 deadline to be considered for admission. Applicants who have successfully submitted their complete applications can check whether or not their applications were submitted and downloaded by Stanford by checking the Common Application (under MY COLLEGES). The download process may take several days but rest assured complete applications submitted by the deadline date and time will be received by the Office of Undergraduate Admission.
Unapproved paper applications and late submissions will not be considered under any circumstances, even for students who have technical difficulties with the Common Application Web site. All technical difficulties must be addressed well before the application deadline.
Bob Patterson
Director of Admission
Admission Decisions to be Released Earlier Than Expected
December 9, 2011
Restrictive Early Action applicants will be sent their admission decisions beginning at 3pm today. Decisions will be sent via email beginning at 3pm (Pacific Time), several days ahead of schedule. The admission committee finalized its selection process earlier than anticipated and in an effort to quell anxiety among applicants, parents, counselors, and alumni, Dean Shaw made the decision to release decisions today, December 9. Please understand that while we will begin to send decisions at 3pm (Pacific Time), it may take some time before your decision reaches you. Decision emails will not reach every applicant immediately at 3pm. It may take several hours before decisions are received. If we encounter any technical glitches or your internet service provider blocks our email, delivery may be interrupted. As a result, we respectfully ask that you do not call or write to the Office of Undergraduate Admission to request your admission decision. We will not begin releasing decisions over the phone until Wednesday of next week.
We understand and empathize with your anxiety right now and we will do everything in our power to ensure that your admission decision reaches you as soon as possible. Your patience is greatly appreciated.
Thanksgiving Closure
November 22, 2011
The Office of Undergraduate Admission and the Stanford Visitor Center will be closing at 4 PM, November 23, for the Thanksgiving holiday and will reopen Monday, November 28th.
Two students, five alumni win Rhodes and Mitchell scholarships
November 22, 2011
Two Stanford students and five alumni will begin graduate studies this fall as Rhodes and Mitchell scholars
Stanford senior Tenzin Seldon was up all night fielding congratulatory phone calls from family, friends, loved ones and supporters in India, after the Rhodes Trust announced that she was one of 32 Americans who were named 2012 Rhodes Scholars.
Seldon, who was born and raised in a small hilltop town in the Himalayas, is the first Tibetan American to win a Rhodes Scholarship, which provides all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England.
"My mother, who sought political asylum in the United States, won the right to emigrate through a visa lottery for Tibetan refugees," she said in a Monday telephone interview. "My father, myself and my brothers followed nearly a decade later. It is due to chance that I am here."
Seldon, who attended high school in Minnesota, said many Tibetan American children have not achieved the same level of success as children from other immigrant communities. She said she hopes to pursue a career in international politics, perhaps at the United Nations, to work on behalf of all refugees.
"For me, the award signifies all of the hard work, support, love and conviction of the people who have been around me and seen my journey," she said. "It signifies, not just my success, but success for refuges all around the world, especially Tibetan refugees who are first generation Americans.
Seldon was one of five Stanford students and alumni—a record number for the university—chosen to represent the United States as 2012 Rhodes Scholars.
The other four Rhodes Scholars with ties to Stanford are alumni Aysha N. Bagchi, Anand R. Habib and Katherine "Kate" Niehaus; and senior Ishan Nath.
All told, 107 Stanford students and alumni have been named Rhodes Scholars. Read more »
Two-pronged advising systems helps undergraduates navigate academic life
November 21, 2011
At Stanford, incoming freshman are assigned two advisers—a pre-major adviser and an academic director—the summer before they arrive on campus.
Stanford freshmen come from all walks of life, but they all share one thing in common: they "were the very best thing where they were," Julie Lythcott-Haims, dean of freshmen and undergraduate advising, told the Faculty Senate last week.
"So when they think about advising, they think, no, no, no, I've got this," Lythcott-Haims said, during a presentation at the Nov. 10 meeting.
"They did what it took to excel, to exceed expectations in high school, often alone, or without recognizing the assistance around them, so they think, I've got this. I don't need advising. Or maybe they recognize that advising is valuable, but they don't think they need to hear anything from anyone older than 24."
Over time, Lythcott-Haims said, students will find mentors at Stanford, and find their way to the amazing and varied opportunities available to undergraduates.
"But because advice and guidance are so essential from the outset, and because many of our students are reluctant to go out and get that advice and guidance, we assign two advisers right from the outset, over the summer before they arrive at Stanford," she said, referring to academic directors and pre-major advisers. Read more »
Restrictive Early Action Deadline
November 1, 2011
Freshman Applicants for admission are strongly advised to read this important update.
In the past a large number of would-be applicants to Stanford mistakenly believed they successfully submitted their applications via the Common Application Web site when, in fact, they did not. As a result, we were unable to consider their applications for admission. Please be sure that the applicant has submitted the following pieces by 11:59pm (Pacific Time) on the day of the deadline:
- The Common Application
- The Stanford Supplement to the Common Application
- The Common Application Fee (or Fee Waiver Request)
Please be advised that applicants must successfully complete and submit their applications online by the November 1 deadline (for Restrictive Early Action) or the January 1 deadline (for Regular Decision) to be considered for admission. Applicants who have successfully submitted their complete applications can check whether or not their applications were submitted and downloaded by Stanford by checking the Common Application (under MY COLLEGES). The download process may take several days but rest assured complete applications submitted by the deadline date and time will be received by the Office of Undergraduate Admission.
Unapproved paper applications and late submissions will not be considered under any circumstances, even for students who have technical difficulties with the Common Application Web site. All technical difficulties must be addressed well before the application deadline.
Bob Patterson
Director of Admission
Stanford student develops touchscreen Braille writer
October 17, 2011
Each summer, under the red-tiled roofs and sandstone of Stanford, the Army High-Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC) invites a select group of undergraduates from across the country to gather for a two-month immersion into the wonders of advanced computing.
Some of the undergraduates are gathered into teams. Some work alone. All are assigned mentors and tasked with a challenge. They compete, American Idol-style, for top honors at the end of the summer.
The competition is made possible in part by a collaboration between the U.S. Army and several university and industry partners that makes up the AHPCRC.
Adam Duran is one such undergraduate, a student both lucky and good. He is now in his senior year at New Mexico State University. Last June, he came to Stanford at the suggestion of one of his professors. His mentors were Adrian Lew, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Sohan Dharmaraja, a doctoral candidate at Stanford studying computational mathematics.
"Originally, our assignment was to create a character-recognition application that would use the camera on a mobile device – a phone or tablet – to transform pages of Braille into readable text," said Duran. "It was a cool challenge, but not exactly where we ended up."
Stanford featured in The New York Times
October 3, 2011
Opinion columnist Bill Keller highlights Stanford's technological innovation in the classroom.Read more »
Stanford on iTunes U hits 40 million downloads
October 3, 2011
People use the iTunes Store in a variety of ways. Some people are looking for synth-pop. Others want to download a horror film. And then there are people who just want to hear a Stanford electrical engineering professor explain how to transform a signal to its frequency domain representation.
That last option may not sound like the most obvious crowd-pleaser, but in 2005 Stanford was the first university to launch a public site on iTunes U and is now celebrating its 40 millionth download.
For those unfamiliar with iTunes U, the site allows universities to post content such as lectures, courses and concerts, which can then be viewed for free by the general public. As a whole, iTunes U has served over 600 million downloads, with Stanford being one of the universities topping the list of most-downloaded content. Read more »
Campus rolls out Cardinal carpet for freshman, transfers
September 26, 2011
The 1,709 members of the Class of 2015 plus nearly four dozen transfers (along with family and friends) arrived on campus Tuesday, marking the beginning of New Student Orientation week on the Farm. Watch a video of move-in day »
Stanford announces dates of regional information sessions
September 16, 2011
In the coming weeks, Stanford will host regional information sessions in a number of cities across the United States. We invite you to attend one of these sessions to learn more about Stanford. Attendees will hear from an Admission Officer and recent alumni, as well as have the opportunity to ask questions about Stanford and/or the application process. To RSVP to a regional information session go to the Stanford in Your Area webpage.
Spotlight on Stanford's bid to build a campus in New York City
September 14, 2011
Stanford has created a new website—Stanford in New York City—that describes why the university is well positioned to create a state-of-the-art engineering and applied sciences campus in New York City.
The website, which includes fact sheets, video, information about Stanford's tradition of innovation and entrepreneurship, and a list of companies that faculty and alumni have helped create, will be updated as the University finalizes its proposal, due Oct. 28.
"Stanford, with its culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, offers New York City a partner experienced in offering world-class education and research, transferring innovation to the marketplace, attracting the best faculty and students worldwide and graduating successful business leaders," the university says on the new website.
The website will provide the latest information about Stanford's NYC campus proposal, which is being developed this fall for submission in late October.
The site currently features a fact sheet on Stanford's preliminary proposal; a one-hour video of President John Hennessy's presentation to the Academic Council on the proposal, followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A; a list of companies that faculty and alumni have helped create; and a list of some of the technologies whose origins can be traced to basic research at Stanford, including modern web-search algorithms, digital sound synthesis and genome sequencing.
"By leveraging Stanford's formidable strengths in engineering and computer science, the Stanford Applied Science and Engineering campus in New York City will drive technology development and innovation; attract world-class engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs and investors; and generate dozens of new companies and thousands of new jobs," the university says in a fact sheet.
Stanford's proposal for New York City features:
- A campus housing programs from the School of Engineering, the Graduate School of Business, the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design and the Stanford Technology Ventures Program;
- An eventual faculty of 100 and a graduate student body of about 2,200, including 200 doctoral students and 1,500 master's students;
- An initial focus on information technology (electrical engineering and computer science), entrepreneurship education and research, and executive education in technical fields and management;
- Access to Stanford's world-renowned professors and scientists on both coasts and seamless interaction between campuses;
- The same classroom experience for which Stanford is acclaimed, with the same access to Stanford's distinguished professors and scientists;
- A campus envisioned on Roosevelt Island, or another potential site within the city, with established transit, access and space in or near Manhattan;
- A design to include residential towers and academic buildings, cafes, retail shops, student life and public amenities – growing eventually to 1.8 million square feet.
Students, alumni help each other with startup dreams
September 13, 2011
StartX provides floor space, advice, and camaraderie to Stanford-affiliated entrepreneurs.
Dorm-room tycoons splitting time between lectures and investor meetings. Caffeinated engineering students discussing development strategies in communal kitchenettes. Since the '80s, the gritty image of the Stanford entrepreneur has been a staple of Silicon Valley's self-made mythos.
But the romanticizing of hardscrabble multitasking threatens to obscure just how hardscrabble it really is—failure rates of Silicon Valley startups are notoriously high, and balancing a new company with schoolwork can leave little time for anything else.
Plus, as Laura Borel, BA '10, MS '11, founder of the restaurant search service ByteBite, explained: "Startups can get a little bit lonely."
StartX is looking to make this path a little easier. StartX is a startup accelerator, reserved for Stanford-affiliated entrepreneurs and run by Stanford Student Enterprises, a division of the student government. Now led by Cameron Teitelman and Dan Ha, both 2010 graduates, the program is on the tail end of its first full-time summer session at new AOL-provided offices. On Sept. 8, it unveiled its 12 newest companies before a Valley audience. Read more »
Stanford provides details, revises scope of Alumni Interview Program first year
July 11, 2011
Dean of Undergraduate Admission Richard Shaw today provided additional details and clarity about the upcoming official first year of Stanford University's alumni interview program for freshman applicants. Shaw announced the adoption of the program in May.
For the 2011-12 application cycle, interviews will continue to be offered in the areas where they were piloted over the last three years. In newly announced interview areas, recruitment and training will be the focus of the coming cycle, as well as an emphasis on technology development across the program.
"Gradual global expansion has always been and remains the goal of this program," said Shaw. "Because of the sheer numbers of both alumni and applicants this initiative will engage, we want to be sure we take the time to do it right."
Shaw said work is underway on a "robust, interactive" custom software system which, when complete, will manage alumni and applicant data, provide an interactive user experience for volunteers, and greatly streamline the interview matching and reporting process.
This fall, trained alumni volunteers will continue to interview applicants in pilot interview areas, including Atlanta, Denver, London, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland OR, Raleigh-Durham, Washington DC and the states of Maryland, Massachusetts and Virginia.
Fall interview coverage will also expand to include the whole of Minnesota, Oregon, and much of the United Kingdom.
Interviews in the additional expansion areas (Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Houston, Seattle and Singapore), and likely others, will commence in the 2012-13 cycle.
"While it was our hope to conduct interviews in all of the announced areas as early as this fall, we recognize the importance of building that strong technology infrastructure before we grow exponentially," Shaw said. For the incoming freshman Class of 2015, Stanford received 34,348 applications.
Shaw reiterated that all undergraduate interviews for Stanford are optional, with no penalty for applicants who choose not to meet with alumni, or to whom an interview is not available. Alumni will contact applicants directly if an interview is available in their regions; applicants cannot request interviews. All applications to Stanford will be considered complete with or without an interview.
Stanford freshman waitlist closed
June 16, 2011
On May 12, the Office of Undergraduate Admission admitted 13 students off of its waitlist to the Class of 2015. These students had until Monday, May 23 at midnight (Pacific Time) to make their enrollment decision on-line. There will be no additional offers of admission and all of the students formerly holding a space on Stanford's waitlist and extended waitlist have now been released.
Stanford to offer alumni interviews in designated regions
May 13, 2011
Personal interviews with trained alumni will become an optional component of the freshman application process at Stanford. Read more »
Enrollment decision deadline is May 2
April 26, 2011
All enrollment decision responses must be submitted by 5:00pm (Pacific Time) on May 2.
The May 1 enrollment decision deadline falls on a Sunday this year and to adhere to the NACAC Statement of Principles of Good Practice (PDF) we will extend our enrollment decision deadline to May 2.
Admission decisions released early
March 29, 2011
Admission decisions will, in fact, be released sometime after 3pm (Pacific Time) today, March 29, several days ahead of schedule.
The Office of Undergraduate Admission has completed its evaluation and selection process earlier than expected and to alleviate anxiety among our applicants and their families, we will release all admission decisions sometime today after 3pm. All decisions will be sent via email from Richard Shaw, Dean of Admission and Financial Aid, and will not be available on any Stanford website. Students who are admitted will also be mailed a formal offer letter of admission today as well. To avoid sending disappointing news twice, we will not mail paper copies of decisions to students who are not offered admission. Please do not call the Office for admission decisions as we will not release them by phone.
Of the 34,350 applications received, a total of 2427 students will be admitted. An additional 1078 students will be offered a space on our waitlist. Regrettably, we cannot consider any letters or calls of appeal whatsoever. All admission decisions are final and we never alter any admission decision once it has been rendered.
As I mentioned in my March 24th update, we were humbled by this year's admission process and we have great respect for those students who have applied for admission. We wish all of our candidates the best and know that they will all have a wonderful collegiate experience.
Please be aware that the Office of Undergraduate Admission will close today at 3pm to complete the mailing process. We will re-open Wednesday at 8:30am.
Take care,
Bob
Bob Patterson
Director of Admission
An update on admission decisions
March 24, 2011
Freshman applicants should read this update on the release of decisions from the Director of Admission.
The Office of Undergraduate Admission is expected to complete its evaluation and selection process in the next few days. As a result, applicants are asked to refrain from submitting any new updates, notifications of awards or honors, and letters of recommendation. We will no longer be able to consider any new materials sent from this point forward.
We are still on schedule to release all freshman admission decisions on Friday, April 1 after 3pm (Pacific Time). All admission decisions will be sent via email from admission@stanford.edu and will be signed by Richard Shaw, Dean of Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid. Decisions will not be posted on any Stanford website and only applicants offered admission will be sent any information by mail. Admitted students will be mailed a packet of materials (including their official offer of admission letter). All other decisions will be sent to students via email — including those students offered a space on our waiting list. All admission decisions will be final and given the highly selective nature of our process, we cannot consider any appeals whatsoever. We never, ever reverse an admission decision once it has been officially rendered.
Between now and April 1, please understand that we will not provide any additional information about the release of admission decisions by phone and we will not release any admission decisions over the phone under any circumstances, with the exception of students who have not received their admission decisions beginning the week of April 4.
We have been truly humbled by this year's selection process. We have tremendous respect for the students who put so much time and effort into their applications and who have worked so hard over the last several years to present us with incredibly compelling cases for consideration.
Unfortunately, roughly 94% of those who have applied will not be offered admission this year. We recognize how stressful this process can be for our applicants but we take great solace in knowing that any student who is even a candidate for admission to a place like Stanford will have wonderful college options, whether it be Stanford or another great university.
With great respect and best wishes to all of our candidates,
Bob
Bob Patterson
Director of Admission
Checking the status of an application
February 9, 2011
It is the applicant's responsibility to make sure his/her application is complete and that all required materials have been received by us. An applicant may check the status of his/her application by going to http://axess.stanford.edu/ and clicking on "Check Application Status" on the left-hand side, under "Guest Menu". The applicant will then be prompted to enter his/her email address—the applicant must enter the email address listed on his/her Common Application. The email address provided will be validated against our records, and a follow-up email will be sent to that same address within 24 hours containing the current status of the applicant's required application materials.
If a required application item is listed as "Not Yet Processed" please fax the missing item(s) to 650-723-6050 and include the applicant's Common Application number on the fax. Missing items sent via email attachment will not be accepted.
Please do not call or email the Office of Undergraduate Admission to check on the status of an application. We cannot confirm the arrival of specific application materials by phone or email. We encourage applicants to check the status of their application online periodically, no more than once per day, using the link above, until their application is complete.
Undergraduate applications to Stanford surge
January 13, 2011
Applications for the fall freshman class set a record as approximately
34,200 high school students applied for admission to Stanford.
Read more »
Last update: February 10, 2012 11:18 AM
