Stanford University
recent blog posts for Stanford University
Stanford University is exceptionally difficult to get into, even for truly outstanding applicants. There is no number of awards, GPA, test scores, or exceptional extracurriculars that make an applicant a shoo-in for Stanford. It’s a stretch for everyone. They delay the release of the most recent admissions statistics, but we do have numbers from 2024. For the Class of 2028, the acceptance rate was only 3.61%.
If you’ve been following our “Deep Dive” series so far, you know that these blogs take a look at notable departments within larger colleges, whether they be top-tier programs within likewise elite universities or hidden gems that produce excellent results within schools that are otherwise average. You might say that we’re doing a thorough investigation of schools that are “famous” for one thing or another — business at Wharton (Penn), computer science at Dartmouth, agricultural science at Texas A&M, public health at UNC — but it’s not everyday that we get to take a closer look at academic tracks that are infamous.
Stanford is an iconic California private research university. Located in Stanford, CA, the school is only a couple of CalTrain stops away from the heart of Silicon Valley. It isn’t surprising that Stanford has an extremely popular Engineering program. While Stanford doesn’t make students apply directly into the engineering school (they just ask about academic interests on the application), if you hope to get into Stanford, you need to be a highly competitive applicant. Last year, their acceptance rate was only 3.6%, making them one of the hardest schools to get into in the country. You need to be a top candidate, especially when interested in popular STEM majors, but how? We have a couple of steps you need to take to make sure you are the kind of candidate Stanford is looking for.
In the 2024–2025 application cycle, Stanford reported an admit rate of 3.61%. On its own, that figure sounds definitive – but it raises more questions than it answers. What factors actually drive it? And what information can we glean from the process by taking a deep dive into Stanford’s statistics? While schools like Stanford release select headline stats, understanding what’s happening beneath the surface requires a deeper look. Each year, we break down the data behind ultra-selective admissions so our students aren’t just guessing when they compete for spots at top colleges.