Stanford University

In 1876,former California Governor Leland Stanford purchased 650 acres of Rancho San Franicisquito for a country home and began the development of his famous Palo Alto Stock Farm. He later bought adjoining properties properties totaling more than 8,000 acres. The little town that was beginning to emerge near the land took the name Palo Alto after a giant California redwood on the bank of San Francisquito Creek. The tree is still there and would later become the university’s symbol and centerpiece of its official seal.

On October 1,1891, Stanford University opened its doors after six years of planning and building. The first student body consisted of 555 men and women and the original faculty of 15 was expanded to 49 for the second year.

About 630 organized student groups are recognized at Stanford, covering a range of interests: academic, international, political, environmental, religious, social and recreational. Student publications include The Stanford Daily newspaper. The associated students of Stanford University is the representative government for Stanford students.

Students have opportunities to participate in a remarkable range of activities: from academic courses taught by renowned professors and opportunities for research, independent study and public service to an extraordinary breadth of extracurricular activities.

Multidisciplinary research and teaching are at the heart of recent university-wide initiatives on human health, the environment and sustainability, international affairs and the arts. These initiatives offer faculty and students opportunities for collaboration across disciplines that will be key to future careers.

Stanford undergraduates have opportunities to study with faculty in small classes from their from their first days on campus participate in study abroad or spend a quarter in Washington. Many students become involved in faculty research or develop their own projects and discover the excitement of being at the edge of a field and advancing the frontier of knowledge.

Stanford University is a large, highly residential research university with a majority of enrollments coming from graduate and professional students. The full-time, four-year undergraduate program is classified as "more selective, lower transfer-in" and has an arts and sciences focus with high graduate student coexistence. Stanford University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.Full-time undergraduate tuition was $38,700 for 2010-2011.

Football 
From 1906 to 1919, in response to the crisis caused by numerous injuries, intercollegiate football was in jeopardy. While some colleges dropped football entirely, a few, such as the University of California and Stanford University, replaced it with English rugby. From 1906 to 1914, the two schools played rugby as their major sport, but they soon found that the objectionable practices they saw in football were introduced into rugby. Finally, when the football rules were changed, a move developed to return to football, reviving intercollegiate sports and enabling students and alumni to identify with football, an American sport.