First-Year Applicants
We require an official high school transcript, a school report form and recommendation from your counselor and letters of recommendation from two teachers.
Transcript
An official transcript (grades 9–12) is required for all students.
For students pursuing an international curriculum (e.g., A-Level, national curriculum, or IB Diploma outside the US), academic results and predictions are required if available.
- All official transcripts and results must be sent directly from a school official or testing agency. We will not accept transcripts from applicants.
- Official transcripts are required for high school, college, university or online courses not reported on your current high school transcript.
- A midyear transcript is due by February 15.
- A final transcript, with the graduation date, is due by July 1 if you are admitted and choose to enroll.
- A high school diploma or the equivalent is required in order to begin classes at Stanford.
- These documents must be submitted by your high school college counselor or another school administrator.
- In the Common Application, students invite a counselor to complete the School Report form and Counselor Recommendation form, which includes a recommendation letter.
- Note: the School Report form is a required form located in the application and submitted by your counselor. The School Report form tells us about your academic strengths in the context of the academic programs available in your school.
- Your high school may have a published school profile, but this profile on its own does not fulfill the School Report form requirement.
Letters of Recommendation
- Letters of recommendation from two teachers are required. We recommend requesting letters from grade 11 or 12 teachers in English, math, science, world language or history/social studies. You may request a letter from a grade 10 teacher if the coursework was advanced (e.g., Honors, AP, IB). Letters from classroom teachers are strongly preferred.
- If there is another person who knows you well and can provide new insights about you, you may have one additional recommender submit a letter on your behalf. Please assign this person as your “Other Recommender” in the Common Application. This is the fastest method for a letter to reach your file.
How to Submit Required Materials
- We request that school personnel use Common Application online forms whenever possible to submit documents. This is the fastest method for materials to reach your file.
- If online submission is not possible, school personnel may send materials as an email attachment to credentials@stanford.edu. Ask your school to include your full legal name, school and date of birth on all correspondence with the admission office.
- When ordering college transcripts, please use credentials@stanford.edu as the contact email.
- As a standard practice, we offer a grace period after the application deadline during which teachers and counselors may submit application materials.
- Materials submitted by others may take several weeks to process. If your checklist is not complete by the deadline, simply continue to check your Stanford portal until we have received all items.
- Visit our After Submitting Your Application page for more information.
APPLY
First-Year Applicants
- Requirements and Deadlines
- Regular Decision and Restrictive Early Action
- Academic Preparation
- Application and Essays
- Application Fee/Fee Waiver
- Standardized Testing
- Transcript and Required School Forms
- Interview
- Arts Portfolio
- Guidelines for Homeschooled Applicants
- After Submitting Your Application
Transfer Applicants
- Requirements and Deadlines
- Eligibility
- Academic Preparation & Transfer Credit
- Application and Essays
- Application Fee/Fee Waiver
- Standardized Testing
- Transcripts and College Report
- Letters of Recommendation
- Arts Portfolio
- After Submitting Your Application
Veterans and ROTC
- Overview
- Financial Aid and the Yellow Ribbon Program
- Selecting the Appropriate Application Plan
- Key Contacts
