Stanford University was founded in 1885 by former California Governor and Senator Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane, to memorialize their son, Leland Stanford Junior. Their intent was to establish a “University of high degree” that would “qualify students for personal success and direct usefulness in life and promote the public welfare by exercising an influence on behalf of humanity and civilization.” Stanford opened in 1891.

Stanford is highly selective for both undergraduate and graduate students. In 2016, Stanford accepted 5 percent of undergraduate applicants and 10 percent of graduate school applicants. Stanford enrolls about 7,000 undergraduate students and over 9,000 graduate and professional school students.

Students who derive pleasure from learning for its own sake thrive at Stanford. We look for distinctive students who exhibit energy, curiosity and a love of learning in their classes and lives. Academic excellence is the primary criterion for admission, and the most important credential is the transcript. We seek outstanding students who have selected a rigorous academic program and achieved distinction in a range of courses. 116 Stanford students have been Rhodes Scholars.

Stanford has 2,180 members of the professoriate faculty. Fifty-four percent of the faculty have earned tenure. Faculty at Stanford are expected to be among the best teachers and researchers in their fields. Stanford faculty have won 31 Nobel Prizes since the university’s founding. The faculty currently includes 19 Nobel laureates, 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, 31 MacArthur Fellows and 19 recipients of the National Medal of Science. The synthesis of teaching and research is fundamental to Stanford. All faculty do scholarly research, most often in association with graduate students or advanced undergraduates.

The synthesis of teaching and research is fundamental to Stanford. All faculty do scholarly research, most often in association with graduate students or advanced undergraduates. Stanford is noted for multidisciplinary research within its schools and departments, as well as its independent laboratories, centers and institutes.

There are more than 6,000 externally sponsored projects throughout the university, with the total budget for sponsored projects at $1.6 billion during 2016-17, including the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a facility run by Stanford for the U.S. Department of Energy. Of these projects, the federal government sponsors approximately 81 percent, including SLAC. In addition, nearly $210 million in support comes from non-federal funding sources. Approximately 2,000 postdoctoral scholars are involved in research at the university. Basic research at Stanford has made possible applications from microwaves to GPS, heart transplants to gene splicing, digital sound synthesis to modern web-search algorithms.

Stanford’s entrepreneurial spirit, the result of its California location and the legacy of Leland and Jane Stanford, has helped spawn more than 3,000 companies in high technology and other fields. Stanford played a key role in the creation of the high-technology region known as Silicon Valley. Among the companies started by Stanford graduates or faculty are Google, Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard, Gap, eBay, Electronic Arts, Taiwan Semiconductor, Cisco Systems, Nike, Sun Microsystems and VMware. Stanford has 19 libraries that support Stanford’s mission of teaching, learning and research. The libraries have amassed collections of books, journals, scores and printed reference works numbering more than 8.5 million physical volumes. The libraries hold 1.5 million e-books, nearly 1.5 million audiovisual materials, more than 75,000 serials, thousands of other digital resources and nearly 6 million microform holdings. Stanford also houses one of the most extensive computing environments of any university.

In 2016, there are 221,826 Stanford alumni living in all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. There are alumni in 158 countries and territories worldwide.

Stanford offers its students study opportunities at Stanford centers in Australia, Beijing, Berlin, Cape Town, Florence, Kyoto, Madrid, Oxford, Paris and Santiago. The Bing Stanford in Washington Program enables undergraduates to work and study through courses and internships in a residential program in the U.S. Capital. The Hopkins Marine Station allows students to live in Pacific Grove while studying marine biology.

Stanford is located in California on the San Francisco Bay Peninsula, midway between San Francisco and San Jose. With more than 49 miles of roads, a 49-megawatt power plant, three separate water systems, three dams and lakes, 88 miles of water mains, a central heating and cooling plant, a high-voltage distribution system and a post office, the university is a self-sustaining community. There are more than 690 major buildings at Stanford that incorporate 14.7 million square feet. Stanford is considered one of the top universities in the United States for sustainable practices and development. Ninety-seven percent of undergraduates live on campus, as do about 66 percent of graduate students and 30 percent of faculty members. .

           International Students:3581（23%）

Undergraduate Enrollment:6564

           International Students:470（7%）

Graduate Enrollment:9297

           International Students:3111（33%）

           Aeronautics and Astronautics

           African and African American Studies

           American Studies

           Anthropology

           Archaeology

           Architectural Design

           Art

           Asian American Studies

           Atmosphere/Energy

           Bioengineering

           Biology

           Biomechanical Engineering

           Biomedical Computation

           Chemical Engineering

           Chemistry

           Chicana/o Studies

           Civil Engineering

           Classics

           Communication

           Comparative Literature

           Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity

           Computer Science

           Drama

           Earth Systems

           East Asian Languages

           East Asian Studies

           Economics

           Electrical Engineering

           Energy Resources Engineering

           Engineering Physics

           English

           Engr. Geol. & Hydrogeology

           Environmental Engineering

           Feminist Studies

           French and Italian

           Geological & Environmental Sciences

           Geophysics

           German Studies

           History

           Human Biology

           Iberian and Latin American Cultures

           Individually Designed Major

           International Relations

           Jewish Studies (Individually Designed)

           Linguistics

           Management Science and Engineering

           Material Science and Engineering

           Mathematical & Computational Science

           Mathematics

           Mechanical Engineering

           Music

           Native American Studies

           Philosophy and Literature

           Philosophy and Religious Studies

           Physics

           Political Science

           Product Design

           Psychology

           Public Policy

           Religious Studies

           Science, Technology, & Society (B.A.)

           Science, Technology, & Society (B.S.)

           Slavic Languages and Literatures

           Sociology

           Symbolic Systems

           Urban Studies

Graduate Programs

           Aeronautics and Astronautics

           African Studies

           Anthropology

           Applied Physics

           Art History

           Art Practice

           Biochemistry

           Bioengineering

           Biology

           Biomedical Informatics (M.S.)

           Biomedical Informatics (Ph.D.)

           Biophysics

           Business

           Cancer Biology

           Chemical and Systems Biology

           Chemical Engineering

           Chemistry

           Civil and Environmental Engineering

           Classics

           Communication

           Comparative Literature

           Computational and Mathematical Engineering

           Computer Science

           Curriculum Studies and Teacher Education (CTE)

           Developmental and Psychological Sciences (DAPS)

           Developmental Biology

           Documentary Film and Video

           Drama

           East Asian Languages and Cultures

           East Asian Studies

           Economics

           Electrical Engineering

           Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources

           Energy Resources Engineering

           English

           Environmental Earth System Science

           Epidemiology

           Financial Mathematics

           French

           French and Italian

           Genetics

           Geological and Environmental Sciences

           Geophysics

           German Studies

           Health Services Research

           History

           Human Genetics

           Humanities

           Iberian and Latin American Cultures

           Immunology Program

           International Policy Studies

           Italian

           Latin American Studies

           Law

           Learning, Design and Technology (LDT)

           Linguistics

           Management Science and Engineering

           Master of Liberal Arts

           Materials Science and Engineering

           Mathematics

           Mechanical Engineering

           Medicine

           Microbiology and Immunology

           Modern Thought and Literature

           Molecular and Cellular Physiology

           Music

           Neurosciences

           Philosophy

           Physics

           Political Science

           Psychology

           Religious Studies

           Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

           Slavic Languages and Literatures

           Social Sciences, Humanities & Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS)

           Sociology

           Stanford Teacher Education Program (STEP)

           Statistics

           Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine

           Structural Biology

           Symbolic Systems