STANFORD GRADUATE ADMISSIONS · GRADUATE STUDY GUIDE
Stanford Graduate Admissions runs one application for more than 110 master’s and PhD programs in five schools, and you can apply to just one program each year. Start here, then check your program’s own requirements.
Autumn 2027 entry
GET TO KNOW THE SCHOOL
Graduate Admissions runs the application and the university-wide requirements. Each program reviews its own applications, adds its own requirements, and sends the decision and any funding offer.
PHD PROGRAMS
Stanford provides up to five years of continuous, 12-month funding for PhD students in good standing, through fellowships and assistantships.
MASTER’S DEGREES
Computer Science’s MS takes about a year and a half on average, and Learning Design and Technology runs for 11 months.
KNIGHT-HENNESSY
Knight-Hennessy Scholars covers tuition, a living stipend, and travel for graduate study at Stanford, including one to two years for a master’s.
Stanford accepts one application per academic year, to one program, and more than one can disqualify you. The one exception: a single Biosciences PhD application can name two of the 14 Biosciences programs. You may also apply to a professional school, such as the GSB or Law, in the same year.
English: You don’t need a test if English is your first language, you earned a degree at a university where all instruction was in English, or you’ve worked or studied full-time in English for two consecutive years within the last 10 years. Otherwise the minimum is TOEFL 90 (4.5 on the new scale) or IELTS 7, and some programs ask for more.
Placement: Admitted students below TOEFL 109 (5.5) or IELTS 8 take an English placement test before starting.
Degrees: You need the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor’s degree. A WES evaluation isn’t needed to apply, though admitted students may be asked for one.
Grades: Enter your GPA on your school’s own scale, exactly as your transcript shows it.
Finances: You don’t send financial documents with the application. Proof of funding comes after admission, for your visa documents.
Master’s degrees: Every MA and MS needs at least 45 units taken at Stanford, a study plan filed in your first quarter, and completion within three years (five in the part-time Honors Cooperative Program).
PhD milestones: By the end of your second year, you’re expected to pass your program’s qualifying steps and apply for candidacy, after courses with at least four Stanford faculty. A university oral exam and a dissertation follow.
Advisers and funding: In Stanford’s 14 Biosciences PhD programs, you don’t need a supervisor lined up before you apply; students usually rotate through two to four labs in their first year. Their 2026–27 offers included a $58,460 stipend, tuition, and health and dental insurance.
UNDERSTAND WHAT PROGRAMS LOOK FOR
Each program’s committee reviews its own applications. Your statement of purpose, three letters, and record show why you’re applying, how you’ve prepared, and what you want to do next.
YOUR PREPARATION
Computer Science doesn’t require a CS degree, but it expects strong quantitative and analytical skills. Its MS applicants typically have GPAs of at least 3.7.
Letrado’s adviceIf your transcript doesn’t show the preparation your program expects, a recent course or real technical work can help fill the gap.
YOUR PURPOSE
The statement of purpose covers your reasons for applying, your preparation, research interests, career plans, and background, in up to about 1,000 words.
Letrado’s adviceStart from one real question or problem from your work or studies, and show how this program would help you pursue it.
YOUR LETTERS
Three letters are required, and Stanford strongly recommends at least one from a university professor. Recommenders also rate you against your peers.
Letrado’s adviceGive each recommender specific examples to draw on. A professor and a supervisor can describe different strengths.
PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS
Computer Science (MS): due December 8, 2026. No GRE; a statement of up to two single-spaced pages, a CV, and exactly three letters. Decisions arrive by the end of March.
Learning Design and Technology (MS): due January 7, 2027. GRE optional; a statement, three short answers of up to 1,000 characters, a CV, and three letters, with no interview. Decisions arrive in early March.
Bioengineering (MS): due December 1, 2026. No GRE; a statement of one to three pages, which can name faculty whose research interests you, a CV, and three letters. Its own pages still show last year’s dates.
STANFORD GRADUATE STUDY
Stanford doesn’t publish a university-wide admission rate for its master’s programs.
WHAT PROGRAMS SAY
The School of Education says you don’t need to contact faculty before applying, and its admissions committee makes all final decisions. What matters most, it says, is how well your interests and career plans fit the program.
Its faculty may interview some applicants informally, which the school says is no sign of your chances. Its PhD applicants name two or three faculty in their statements, and several of its programs ask for a writing sample.
STANFORD’S RULES
Graduate Admissions doesn’t publish a general AI rule. Knight-Hennessy allows limited uses of AI, such as early brainstorming, organizing ideas you’ve already developed, pointing out unclear passages, and light spelling and grammar edits. AI-written drafts, outlines, rewrites, and reflections aren’t allowed.
The School of Education goes further for its GCE/IEPA master’s in international education: generative AI may not be used to draft or revise the statement of purpose.
PLAN THE APPLICATION
The application for autumn 2027 is open. Each program sets its own deadline, due by 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time, and sends its own decision.
Knight-Hennessy Scholars
Oct 6, 2026Bioengineering MS
Dec 1, 2026Computer Science MS
Dec 8, 2026Learning Design and Technology MS
Jan 7, 2027Stanford asks for fee-waiver requests at least 10 business days before your program’s deadline, and before you submit. It may still review a later request, but if you haven’t heard by 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time on deadline day, submit and pay before 11:59 p.m. After you submit, you can update only your recommenders, test scores, and contact details. Knight-Hennessy applicants need a first bachelor’s degree from January 2020 or later (or 2018 if you’ve served in the military).
One application covers every program, with a $125 fee. Waivers are available for GRE fee-reduction voucher holders, members of 73 listed programs, and applicants in financial need.
Up to about 1,000 words unless your program says otherwise, plus an optional statement of up to 500 words on your experiences and perspectives.
From academic or professional referees, due by your program’s deadline. You can register a fourth recommender as a backup.
Unofficial transcripts are enough to apply. A CV is optional university-wide, but required by programs such as Computer Science, Bioengineering, and Education.
Each program marks the GRE as required, optional, or not considered. GRE scores must be from September 1, 2021, or later, and English tests from September 1, 2024, or later.
Professional schools: The GSB, the Law School, and the School of Medicine’s MD program run their own applications, and you can apply to one or more of them in the same year as your graduate program.
Missing materials: If extenuating circumstances hold up a test or document, you can submit with a placeholder and explain in the Additional Information section. Extensions are up to your program.
Deferrals: Each program decides. The School of Education doesn’t defer admission, and Computer Science MS admits must petition by April 11.
Part-time study: Computer Science and Learning Design and Technology accept part-time applicants through the Honors Cooperative Program, which has its own rules and per-unit tuition.
WRITE IN YOUR OWN VOICE
About 1,000 wordsStanford’s recommended maximum for the statement of purpose, though programs can set their own prompt and length.
Your statement should explain why you’re applying, how you’ve prepared, and what you hope to do. Programs add their own questions: Learning Design and Technology, for example, asks for three short answers.
Letrado’s adviceWrite about one real problem you’ve worked on and what it taught you. Specific examples show your thinking better than a list of interests.
Cover why you’re applying, how your studies and work prepared you, your interests, and your career plans.
This optional statement asks about your lived experiences, values, and perspectives.
The questions ask what your ideal program would provide, what intrigues you about designing digital tools for learning, and about something you made and what you learned.
The School of Education asks for statements written clearly in your own words, and recommenders must be the sole authors of their letters.
MAKE ROOM FOR THE FINANCIAL QUESTION
Full-time graduate tuition is $21,815 a quarter in 2026–27, or $23,239 in Engineering, and Stanford’s standard 12-month budget adds $61,142 for living costs. PhD students are funded; most master’s students pay their own way.
PHD STUDENTS
of continuous 12-month funding through fellowships and assistantships, for students in good standing.
MASTER’S STUDENTS
University fellowships go mainly to doctoral students, though some programs, such as Learning Design and Technology, consider every applicant for fellowships.
KNIGHT-HENNESSY
Tuition, a living stipend, and travel for up to three years, including one to two years for a master’s.
Federal loans are for U.S. citizens and permanent residents. International students can use private loans, which often need a U.S. co-signer, and outside fellowships.
Graduate aid at Stanford (opens in a new tab)PUBLISHED 2026–27 COST · LEARNING DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY MS
$135,095The full cost of the 11-month program for a single student on campus: $73,953 in tuition and $61,142 in living costs. A lighter spring course load brings it to $127,460.
For autumn 2027 entry, use the 2027–28 rates when Stanford publishes them. Living off campus is estimated to cost 10% to 40% more.
Financing a School of Education master’s (opens in a new tab)Letrado’s adviceIf you’ll need funding, apply to Knight-Hennessy as well as your program, and budget as if you won’t receive an assistantship.
International students show proof of funding only after admission, when they request visa documents.
Funding questions (opens in a new tab)ADMITTED TO STANFORD · L.W.
She was a middle-school math teacher with five years in a rural district, practical teaching materials, and no startup record. We helped her show how she rethought a tool students abandoned, and compare three very different degree formats.
Her first essay proposed an adaptive-learning platform. She returned instead to why students stopped using a digital practice tool after a week.
Confusing feedback and unreliable internet were part of the problem. She changed the instructions and feedback, and was honest about the limits of her evidence.
Learning science, design studios, entrepreneurship, internships, and whether she could study full-time all shaped her list.
The Learning Design and Technology application (opens in a new tab) asks about something you made and what you learned, and her abandoned tool gave her a real answer.
HER STANFORD OUTCOME
Offered a place in Stanford’s MS in Learning Design and Technology
HER CHOICE: STANFORDMain Quad, Stanford University · Photo: Steve Jurvetson / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Cropped.
Penn’s hybrid format would have let her keep working, and Harvard offered broader flexibility. Stanford matched the design practice she wanted most.
ALSO ADMITTED TO
WHEN YOU’D LIKE A HAND
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