Hello! I noticed that Stanford does not have any opportunities to send an extended resumes. I was wondering if you used any other means to provide your accomplishments or relied solely on the Common App. Thank you so much!
@GalaxyWarp
You miss every shot you don’t take! I would say go for it and have no regrets 
@BobRoss1234
I would say take some AoPS online classes. Apart from that, past papers will be your best friend.
@Eastcoast234
SCEA will give you a better shot. However, keep in mind that Stanford CS is one of the hardest majors to get into. In addition, by doing SCEA, you are forfeiting your ability to apply to any other school early. I would say only do SCEA if you know that Stanford is really where you want to go and that you know the risk you are taking. Personally, I would not do SCEA simply because it is way too restrictive.
@fintech0901
I relied only on my Common App. However, you might be able to email them your resume and see if they can add it to your admissions portfolio.
@Eastcoast234 Parent of Stanford student here pitching in on SCEA. Stanford students are all basically admitted as undeclared. They do ask you to list your interests. In our son’s SCEA application, he was asked to list his first, second, and third academic interests. How this info impacts a given application is unclear. However, you’re not required to declare a major until sophomore year I believe. Many students actually change majors after they get a taste of what’s available, others arrive committed to a major and remain that way. While SCEA does restrict you somewhat it may be a good option for you, but you should consider all your options.
Thank You GoBears2023
Thank You Rivet2000
This means we have to apply as undeclared. But what if we get admitted(i know its not easy) and will not get into the major we want to?
Also, why do people say its almost impossible to get into CS when we dont even apply for CS major only?
Thank you
CS is very popular right now, stressing the ability of many schools to support the demand and offer enough seats in the most in-demand classes. As a result, it’s very hard for students to change majors into CS and even to get all the classes they need to graduate in 4 years (in the extreme). I’m not really sure how Stanford has been able to avoid these issues, but up to now they have. I do think (but have no real way of knowing) that they consider the “top academic interests” that are listed in admissions applications as they build their class. Also, since everyone comes in undeclared, it may be that some who originally thought they wanted CS change their mind. Additionally, Stanford simply has the capability of handling the number of students that declare CS. However they do this, our S has never had any problems. He has never been denied or wait-listed in any CS class. Some of the CS classes are large and some of the most popular CS classes are very large (100’s) but they are managed very well. Some of the “fun” classes are extremely hard to get into - social dance, french cooking, etc. It is easy to declare CS or change majors - many of his friends have done so.
Hi everyone, little late to the discussion, but I am currently a senior student-athlete at Stanford University majoring in Management Science and Engineering. If you guys have any questions about applying as an athlete, the student life at Stanford, admissions questions, etc feel free to reach out!
Ok thank you rivet2000
Eastcoast234, Stanford doesn’t require qualification to declare a particular major. If you want to major in Comp Sci, you declare a major in Comp Sci when you’re ready, typically during sophomore year. Then you have to satisfy the requirements to graduate, but that’s it.
There is no concept of “impacted” majors such as the Univ of California system has at some campuses, or anything like that. You simply major in what you want to major in.
I don’t think this is unique to Stanford, by the way. I suspect it’s the norm for most high level private schools, Ivy League, Tufts, Rice, etc, etc. but I don’t have first hand experience with any aside from Stanford. The freedom to choose a major and easily change your mind and your major is a benefit of private vs public universities.
Ok ok thank you for the info
How do we get to work with Stanford professors?, Apart from sending emails to them, how do we reach them for internships, research/ projects?
Thank you
@stanfordsenior It may seem like a dumb question. But how good do you have to be at a sport to be recruited for sports
@GoBears2023 , after reading about your journey, I became a big fun of yours! You are an exceptional young man both in achievement and in character. I am rooting for you to accomplish big things to better the world.
Lessons to us all – nice guys do finish first!
@TimeUpJunior
Thanks for your kind words!
@Eastcoast234 My son is a sophomore and told me one thing (out of many) his loves about Stanford is how responsive professors are. He had homework questions answered through emails. He has CS friends approaching professors directly at office hours and getting internships for this summer. If you are interested and lucky to get into Introsem classes, it’s a great opportunity to get to know the professors well and potentially get research projects as they are small classes (usually 15 or so students).
OK, thank you SCMHAALUM.
Hi, I had reached out to stanford’s coach for fencing, but she said I was not good enough. However, she also also said that she had only one slot per event. she offered to write a LoR for me, but i have been told to ask them from someone who knows me personally. so should i ask her for it, even though she does not know me?
she said that i wont even have to give trials to be on the team, i would just have to be admitted to stanford. Please help. I am tirelessly working on the essays, and stanford has been my dream school since i was a child- they have excellent fencing, ecellent physics- they even have telescopes and dar matter research labs!
any advice would be appreciated
thank you
@misfit07
For athletic recruitment at Stanford, I’ve heard it’s quite competitive from my fellow classmates. I would take the LoR but probably attach it as an additional document rather than as one of your main recommendations. Best of luck
Actually, three of the eight Ivy League schools (Columbia, Cornell, Penn) are divided into divisions, and changing into a major in another division is not guaranteed. Cornell also has GPA minimums higher than 2.0 for undeclared engineering students to declare specific engineering majors. Harvard has one limited-access major, visual environmental studies (3.0 college GPA and evaluation of student performance in VES courses).
Some other elite private schools have capacity issues that they handle in a different way. For example, Swarthmore is rationing the number of CS courses that CS majors can take.
Stanford does not appear to have any limited-access majors.
Of course, CS courses and majors have seen rapidly increased enrollment at many colleges and universities over the past several years. There were articles in The Stanford Daily about record setting CS 106A enrollments. Example from 2012: https://www.stanforddaily.com/2012/10/04/cs106a-enrollment-reaches-record-high/ .