Struggling to choose between spending your afternoon at the beach or taking a tour of one of Silicon Valley’s tech campuses? Admiring the palm trees and Spanish Colonial architecture of campus on your way to class? Living and studying in one of America’s fastest-growing and most important tech hubs? Sounds like you’re at Stanford — and what a great place to be!

Stanford: The Basics

Public

Private

Liberal Arts

Research University

Affiliation: Secular (nonreligious)

The Location (Stanford, California):

Can’t get the song “Valley Girl” out of your head? Stanford is in the Valley — Silicon Valley, that is! In beautiful Palo Alto, you can enjoy mild climates year-round, outdoor adventures hiking or at the beach, and easy access to all the booming Bay Area has to offer.

The Numbers

Admission Rate

 3.94%

Average High School GPA

 4.22

Preferred Standardized Test 

 Either

Average SAT Score 

750-800 Math, 720-770 ERW

Average ACT Score 

 32-35

Accepts ACT Superscore?

 Yes

Application Deadline

 January 5

Accepts Common App?

 Yes

Tuition (Annual)

 $53,529

Enrollment

6,996 undergraduates

Average Class Size

 <20

You’d Make a Great Cardinal If:

  • You have an entrepreneurial spirit. Stanford alumni are famously well represented among founders of top companies, including Yahoo!, Google, WhatsApp, YouTube, LinkedIn and more!
  • You want to live on a close-knit campus. 89% of Stanford undergraduates live in on-campus housing, and Stanford’s generous scholarships offer help for many students to fund their accommodation during their studies.
  • You’re a budding biologist. Stanford, along with UCLA and UC Berkeley, is part of the Biohub initiative, a brand-new, cutting-edge medical science research center with a $600 million funding commitment.

Fun Fact(s):

Looking for love? Many of Stanford’s campus traditions have a romantic bent to them, from the “Full Moon On the Quad” event, where students kiss by moonlight, to the “Marriage Pact” matchmaking event, which pairs students with potential spouses based on a matchmaking quiz!

Famous Alumni:

Curtis Sittenfeld:
Author

Joe Coulombe:
Founder of Trader Joe’s

Jerry Yang:
Yahoo! Co-Founder

Sandra Day O’Connor:
US Supreme Court Justice

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