Academic life at Stanford
The professors at Stanford are considered to be among the best in the world. As of March 2018, 81 Nobel prize laureates, 27 Turing prize laureates and 7 fields medals have been affiliated with Stanford and as students, former students, professors or personnel members.
Additionally, Stanford University is particularly known for its entrepreneurial spirit and the capacity of its students to attract funds for startups.
The former students of Stanford have founded a great number of companies, producing together more than 2.7 million dollars of revenue annually and creating 5.4 thousand jobs in 2011, the equivalent of the world’s tenth largest economy (2011).
Stanford has shaped 30 living millionaires and 17 astronauts. It is also one of the principal producers of members of the United States congress. The university currently employs more than 2 000 professors.
Despite this incredible list of achievements, the students have plenty of time to define their own academic goals under the direction of professors, of personnel or former students.
Effectively, a number of students do not declare their ‘major’ until their second year (or ‘sophomore’) at Stanford.
Before choosing, the students meet with a ‘PMA’ or a ‘pre-major’ counselor. This person oversees a small group of first year students and helps them choose their classes and to navigate through university life until they declare a ‘major’ of studies.
In total, 57% of undergraduate students become graduates of a school of human sciences and sciences, which comprises programs as varied as afro-american studies, study of slavic language and literature, or physics and political sciences.
Among its other schools (or departments), Stanford is also home to a school of Earth Sciences, energy and environment and a School of Engineering. Additionally, is also home to 10 campuses across the world in cities like Le Cap, Hong Kong (from 2019), Istanbul, Kyoto, Oxford and Paris.
Every campus has a member of the faculty in residence and staff as well as students, which allows for the creation of a true ‘home from home’ for the students of Stanford.
