I happened to visit Stanford University, which is one of the most prestigious and rated educational institutions in the world, as well as one of the most advanced in the IT field. The territory and educational buildings are impressive! While I was looking at the buildings, inspiration came and I was interested in the possibility of studying for foreign students (and why not?). I decided to share the information and prepared a review.
History of Stanford University unique:
founders - railroad tycoon, former governor of California, senator L. Stanford and his wife Jane. The university was founded in 1891. in honor of their only son, who did not live to see his 16th birthday. Regarding the history of the founding, a beautiful literary story “walks” on the network (I thought about whether to publish it or not, or just leave a link, but I decided to post it, because this story is significantly different from the stories of all other universities, and at your discretion, read it or No):
A woman in a discreet dress, accompanied by her husband, dressed in a modest suit, got off the train at Boston Station and headed to the office of the president of Harvard University. They didn't have an appointment. The secretary determined at a glance that such provincials had nothing to do at Harvard.
“We'd like to meet the president,” the man said in a low voice.
"He'll be busy all day," the secretary replied dryly.
"We'll wait," the woman said.
For several hours, the secretary ignored the visitors, hoping that at some point they would get frustrated and leave. However, having made sure that they were not going to leave anywhere, he nevertheless decided to disturb the president, although he really did not want to.
“Maybe if you accept them for a minute, they will go faster?” he asked the president.
He sighed indignantly and agreed. A man as important as him certainly doesn't have time to host people so modestly dressed.
When the visitors entered, the president looked at the couple with a stern and arrogant air. A woman addressed him:
— We had a son, he studied at your university for one year. He loved this place and was very happy here. But, unfortunately, a year ago he died unexpectedly. My husband and I would like to leave a memory of him on campus.
The President was not at all happy about this, but on the contrary, he became irritated.
— Mistress! he replied defiantly, “we can't put up statues for everyone who went to Harvard and died. If we did so, this place would be like a graveyard.
“No,” the woman hastened to object, “we do not want to erect a statue, we want to build a new building for Harvard.
The President examined the faded plaid dress and poor suit and exclaimed: “Corpus! Do you have any idea how much one such case costs? All Harvard buildings are worth over seven million dollars!
For a minute the woman did not answer. The President smiled wickedly. Finally he kicks them out!
The woman turned to her husband and said quietly:
Is it so little to build a new university? So why don't we build our own university then?
The man nodded affirmatively. The Harvard president turned pale and looked confused.
Mr. and Mrs. Stanford got up and left the office. In Palo Alto, California, they founded the university that bears their name, Stanford University, in memory of their beloved son…”The children of California will be our children»
(literary history copied from historytime.ru)
Monument to the Founders:
Memorial Church on the territory:
Description of the prestige of the university
The university is known for its research activities and "close" ties with Silicon Valley. Visiting the offices of one of the IT companies (in my other publication on Habré), I asked the question, why is the concentration of the central offices of the most advanced companies in the world (Google, Apple, Amazon) located here? To which I received one of the answers that it happened historically due to the close location of the "forge of personnel" in the form of Stanford University.
In terms of popularity among universities in the United States, Stanford is in second place after Harvard University. Every year, he accepts about 7% of all comers into the ranks of his students.
Among its graduates:
- founders of the largest corporations (Google, Yahoo!, PayPal, etc.)
- inventors: co-author of TCP / IP network protocols V. Cerf, designer of noise reduction systems R. Dolby, inventor of the 56K modem B. Townsend
- businessmen who founded their billion dollar companies
About the university
Location - Santa Clara, near San Francisco, California, USA.
The university campus, as well as laboratories and other buildings of the university, occupy more than 33 km² of land.
Stanford has more than seven hundred buildings with classrooms equipped with the latest technology, 18 independent laboratories, institutes and research centers, and 24 student libraries (with 7 million books) are practically available 20/8,5. Hospitals and clinics are located near the university campus. And on the territory of the educational institution there is a church, a shopping center (with 140 boutiques and shops) and even an art gallery.
Faculties of Stanford University: School of Medicine, School of Law, School of Geosciences, School of Humanities and Natural Sciences, Engineering, Business School (included in the top 10 of the world ranking).
The undergraduate program consists of the top 5 areas: Computer Science, Human Biology, Engineering Sciences, Mechanical Engineering and Science, Technology and Society.
Building of the Faculty of Engineering:
Anyone can apply to the university.
The annual cost of education is from $30 to $60; there are free programs for gifted students. If there is no amount for annual payments, US citizens can take out a student loan and repay it after graduation.
Before submitting documents and paying a fee, a foreign student must pass the TOEFL exam, thereby confirming excellent knowledge of the English language.
Then you can already start passing American tests (as in the Republic of Belarus after school for enrolling in a university, and for your own undergraduate studies).
Particular attention is paid to the personal qualities of the future student, therefore, recommendations are needed from employers who have sent an employee for training or from American teachers (there is no idea where a foreign student can get such, I think you can find information on the Internet).
An extract with grades, essays, etc. is also required.
And ... a motivation letter (!). According to the requirements of the university, the applicant must have a clear idea of what he wants to do in the future and what benefits he can bring to others (especially applicants for a place in a master's or doctoral program). Because Stanford is so entrepreneurial, people like to read motivational letters with original ideas.
The final stage of the introductory campaign is a personal interview. To determine the intellectual potential of the applicant and his degree of interest in learning, teachers ask questions not only on the chosen specialty, but also general ones.
Russian applicants have the opportunity to be interviewed in Moscow.
For more details on admission requirements, please see .
Campus Overview
Hoover Tower - the tallest building on campus - 87 m, built in 1941 and named after one of the American presidents who studied at Stanford. It houses a library and archive collected by Hoover during his studies.
The tower at night with a projection of the image of the tower itself (sorry for the quality of the photo):
Each university flower bed contains unique plants collected from all over the world:
Audience photo:
The clock that strikes loudly and loudly with bells every hour:
Lots of fountains in the area. This one across from the mall, plastered with student body posters:
Some photos from the area:
Impressions about the university are only positive. For "non-students" you can visit the campus on weekends. Walking or cycling is very pleasant - ancient solid buildings, silence, running squirrels, the sound of water at the fountains, and most importantly, an atmosphere imbued with the spirit of knowledge.
Source: habr.com