My visit to Stanford University

A study in Stanford is a dream of many students. Founded in 1885, Stanford (Palo Alto, California) is to-day one of the biggest private research Universities. Stanford is known for its academic excellence. Students from its alumina have founded companies like HP, Sun Microsystems, Nvidia, Yahoo, Cisco systems, Google etc. The president of Wipro Azim Premji is an alumnus of Stanford. Mukesh Ambani is also an alumnus of Stanford.

Located in 8,180 acres of land, Stanford stands to serves the world wide students. An estimated 16000 students are studying. Because of its excellent education, admission is very competitive based on merit, being a private University (no govt funding) it’s a very expensive University, beyond the reach of middle class. In simple terms, to enter into Stanford one should not only be intellectual but also have rich parents or obtain scholarship. 

Stanford had produced 16 Nobel laureates, 4 Pulitzer winners, 23 MecAthur Fellows, 8 wolf foundation prize winners etc.  Stanford also hosts a Medical School. Medical graduates of Stanford command a great respect. It’s very expensive to complete med school from Stanford.

When we enter the campus which is about 10 times that of Lalbag (Bangalore), we can see students biking from one building to another with a back pack of books. Some students move around using skate boards (a flat four wheeled wooden board). More than 30 cafeterias of different taste are in the campus with indoor and out door courtyard tables. One cafeteria is run on "no profit, no loss" basis, which is cheap and best.

There is a fiction story about the founders of Stanford. One day one man and woman went to a Harvard university to meet the Principal and asked him to Institute a scholarship in their son's name that had died of typhoid at the age of 16. Seeing the ordinary dress of them, it seems they were insulted by the principal. Finally the man asked, "What am I to do to institute a scholarship in my son's name?” Principal sarcastically said”It is not that much easy, you should have your own University ". The man and woman who were rich in ordinary dress came out and planned to start a University in their deceased son Leland Stanford’s name. Some say this is not a true story.

In US, even though I had visited many Universities, Stanford is something which remains "Unfolded in my heart ". I feel at least one child from our family or friends should go and study there". Every student in the Stanford campus appeared like a future "NOBEL PRIZE WINNER".