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High School Summer College Program
We Invite You to Apply
Stanford's High School Summer College provides academic, social, and
intellectual opportunities that cannot be found in a high school classroom.
You will have the chance to take challenging courses while interacting with
students and scholars from around the world. You have the opportunity to earn
Stanford University credit while taking advantage of the exciting scholarly
resources available to members of the Stanford community. At the same time,
you can sample the unique entertainment and outdoor recreation activities on
campus and in the culturally rich San Francisco Bay Area. These diverse and
interesting academic and extracurricular offerings provide many occasions
for personal growth, enjoyment, and the opportunity to develop memorable friendships. We invite you to join us in Summer 2008.
Our selective eight-week program attracts exceptional current high school students who are eager to experience a true university environment. The rewards are limitless: college life at Stanford, long-lasting friendships, inspirational professors, passion for lifelong learning, outstanding recreational activities, classes held outdoors, and the riches of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Residential Program
High School Summer College students enroll in the eight-week quarter and take undergraduate courses for Stanford University credit. Participants reside in the historic Lagunita Court residence with a trained staff of residence mentors. Residential students must register for at least eight units of course work. High School Summer College students gain an inside view of college life and begin to develop the social and study skills needed to meet the challenges that face college students.
Weekend and evenings are packed with field trips, intramural sports, dinner with a Nobel laureate,
informal discussions with Stanford faculty, outreach projects,
and coastal excursions. Popular destinations include San Francisco,
Santa Cruz, and
Monterey.
Commuter Program
Students who live within a manageable commuting distance to the Palo Alto campus may participate in the High School Summer College as commuter students. Students seeking admission as commuters submit the same application as residential students and go through the same admission process. Commuter students must register for at least three units of course work.
Commuter students enjoy the privileges of enrolling in designated Stanford classes and utilizing student on-campus
resources, although they do not live in an on-campus residence and do not participate in residence activities.
We encourage all students to apply to the High School Summer College residential program for the full impact and benefit of a residential college experience.
Admission
Students must apply and be formally admitted before registering for classes.
We begin reviewing applications in January 2008.
The application deadline for full consideration as a residential student is 04/27/2008.
Commuter students must complete their applications by 06/08/2008. Admission is selective.
Students are strongly encouraged to apply as early as possible. Admission decisions are
made on a rolling basis and the residential program will likely fill before the April 27 deadline.
You will receive a decision concerning your admission approximately three weeks after receipt of your completed application and all required supporting documents.
Students
High School Summer College participants should expect their class enrollments to reflect a broad range of experiences, cultures, and ideas. Summer Session draws an exciting and diverse student body. Approximately half of the students on campus are Stanford undergraduates and graduate students using the time for directed research and mentoring relationships with faculty. Other students take classes toward a degree or another interesting area of study.
Faculty
Stanford prides itself on offering students the opportunity to work with the best scholars and teachers in the world.
Our faculty are joined in the summer by Stanford’s senior graduate students and distinguished visiting
lecturers from major universities worldwide. The current community of scholars includes seventeen Nobel laureates,
four Pulitzer Prize winners, and twenty-four MacArthur fellows.
Classes tend to be small and interaction between faculty and students is rewarding. Popular program activities include the annual faculty dinner, a night when students invite their favorite instructor to Lagunita Court for an informal meal, and weekly faculty nights, featuring speakers from various departments on campus. Past speakers have included:
- Doug Osheroff, Nobel laureate in Physics
- David Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1929–1945
- Stephen Krasner, former Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department
- Faculty from the Schools of Law, Medicine, Business, and Engineering, including the department of Computer Science
Planning for College Success Series
The following optional courses and seminars are available to High School Summer College students. They are designed to help students prepare their college applications and facilitate a successful transition to a university setting.
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College Admission 101
Learn how to identify, select, and apply to the colleges and universities that are appropriate for you. You will gain an inside perspective of the college admission process. Discussion topics include: understanding different types of institutions and finding the right fit; how and when to start the college search; making the most out of a college visit; the interview; what's the difference between early decision, early action, and other early programs; how admission officers evaluate high school records; the importance of standardized testing; securing recommendations; the role of extracurricular activities; tips for writing a successful essay; and paying for college.
SAT 1 Preparation Course
Build your skills and confidence for taking the SAT 1 test. Instruction focuses on test-taking strategies to enhance performance on the exam. You will take two, timed, full-length SAT 1 exams to identify areas in which you will need the most support. Students use official College Board materials and vocabulary tests to augment verbal and math learning aids. There is an extra fee for this program.
Working Smarter
College-level strategies and skills in time management, reading, speaking, writing, and test preparation. Students have the opportunity to explore learning preferences and to develop strategies to optimize their learning in various academic settings.
Writing Well at the College Level
Each year, Stanford's Program in Writing and Rhetoric offers expository writing courses just for High School Summer College students. The themes typically center on topics of social importance or current interest, and the courses are designed to enhance a student's critical reading, writing, and research skills. The topics are designed to spark debate, and the small class size encourages interaction between students and instructor. Working through the course will help you to develop confidence in your opinions as you engage in a process of drafting, rethinking, and revising your perceptions and arguments. In this class, you will practice critical thinking skills essential to college-level writing.
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Residential Program Group Activities
While Stanford's location provides opportunities for independent exploration, many group activities are organized
by the residence staff based on students' suggestions during weekly "house" meetings. A sample of activities from previous summers includes the following:
- A visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- A day at the beach, such as the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
- Dinner and a "Broadway" show in San Francisco
- Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants team professional baseball game
- A day at Paramount's Great America amusement park
- Caltrain trips to local movie theaters
- Tour of a Silicon Valley high-tech firm
- Themed parties in the residence
- Karaoke Night in the residence
- Dorm based "clubs" including book club, knitting club, language clubs, and writing club
- Stanford Jazz Festival performances
- Intramural sports tournaments, such as Ultimate Frisbee and three-player basketball
- Various sporting and social events on campus
- Attendance at the Bank of the West Tennis Classic
- Tall ship sailing on the Bay
Living at Stanford
High School Summer College students come to Stanford from across North America, South America, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, bringing with them a wealth of cultural and ethnic diversity. Dorm life introduces an invaluable opportunity for learning about people's differences and similarities.
Lagunita Court
All students in the High School Summer College residential program live and eat together in the Lagunita Court residence hall, a beautiful complex of Spanish-style houses surrounding a shady courtyard. Lagunita Court is within ten minutes walking or biking distance of most classrooms and libraries (click here to see map).
Summer College students may share a room with another participant. A carefully trained staff of Stanford undergraduates serve as residence mentors. An adult program director also lives at Lagunita. The residential staff strives to make each house a warm and inviting home for the students who live there and to help students take advantage of all that Stanford and the Bay Area have to offer. High School Summer College students are encouraged to be their own educational advocates, forming a house government and organizing house programs, debates, and activities.
Summer College participants have meals in the historic dining hall overlooking the Lagunita courtyard. Students have access to several study lounges, a small library, laundry facilities, and three computer clusters.
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