International Students at a Glance
INTERNATIONAL UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS 2023-2024
While not all English language learners at Stanford are international students, this demographic makes up a large part of the ELL population; it is also the body of students that can be more easily identified through admissions data.
Note: The uncommon data set counts "nonresident aliens" only. Residents and citizens whose native language is not English are not counted. Source: http://ucomm.stanford.edu/cds/2023_2024
In the 2023-2024 academic year, 924 out of 8054, or about 9%, undergraduates were "nonresident aliens."
INTERNATIONAL GRADUATE STUDENTS 2023-2024
9,688 matriculated graduate students. 3,390 International Students (35%)
Source: http://facts.stanford.edu/academics/graduate-profile
ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
Undergraduate Admissions
Stanford informs undergraduate applicants, "Fluency in English is a prerequisite for undergraduate admission at Stanford." English proficiency exams (TOEFL, IELTS, Duolingo English Test, etc.) are useful in helping to determine applicants’ English proficiency, however an applicant's fluency may be clear in other aspects of their application. Stanford has no preferred proficiency exam. Generally, Stanford receives English proficiency exam results from applicants whose native language is not English and/or the primary language of instruction at their secondary school is not English. International undergraduate applicants applying in the fall of 2026 and future years, like all other applicants, are required to take the SAT or ACT.
Graduate Admissions
According to the Office of Graduate Admissions, all graduate school applicants must submit TOEFL scores, unless they graduated from a U.S. university or university in a country where all instruction is provided in English: Australia, Canada (except Quebec), New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Ireland. Applicants from other English-language universities may submit a TOEFL Waiver Request Form. Apparently, however, despite the Office of Graduate Admissions' stated requirement, some departments do not require TOEFL scores. Interestingly, US citizens whose first language is not English must also submit TOEFL scores if they did not graduate from English language universities.
The minimum required TOEFL score is 100 (out of 120 possible points) for doctoral applicants; 100 for Master's in Humanities, Sciences, and Education; and 89 for applicants to Master's in Engineering programs. In the GSB, the average TOEFL score of accepted applicants is 112; in MS&E, it is 111, and Statistics, 109. As a point of reference, the minimum required TOEFL score for graduate student applicants to Iowa State is 71; Michigan State, 80; UCLA, 87; Harvard, 89 (although 109 is said to be strongly recommended by admissions); and Yale, 100. As long as students fulfill the minimum requirement, however, the TOEFL score does not seem to carry much weight in applications (Raghunathan). It should be noted that, as several studies demonstrate, "a successful score on the TOEFL does not guarantee successful communication with native speakers of the language" (Bifuh-Ambe 14).
LANGUAGE RESOURCES FOR CURRENT STUDENTS
Language resources for international students at Stanford are intended almost exclusively for the use of graduate students. The Hume Center, however, is of course available to all students, undergraduate and graduate. In addition to offering one-on-one tutoring sessions and specific topic workshops, the Hume Center offers T.E.A. (Thursday English Afternoons) to all students for conversation practice. Bechtel International Center also offers informal language classes for all Stanford community members, although, in general, graduate students and community members make the most use of Bechtel activities.
Undergraduate Students
There are no ESL or equivalent courses for undergraduate students, although according to the Stanford English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) site, undergraduates may enroll in graduate student ESL courses "with the consent of the instructor." Outside of ESOL, Tom Freeland offers an Oral Communication course, Voice and Articulation Intensive for Non-Native Speakers (OralComm 105). This 1-2 unit course is available for credit/no-credit and is repeatable for credit. The PWR 1 Studio (PWR 1WS) is designed for students who speak other languages in addition to English who would like to participate in weekly group sessions, led by a writing instructor, with other multilingual writers interested in extra, focused time developing their college-level writing practice, with attention to style, drafting, and revision. It is meant to be taken the same quarter a student is taking their WR1 course (PWR 1, ESF, ITALIC 95W).
Graduate Students
The ESOL Program is built for graduate students specifically (with the exception of TESOL teacher training courses and summer courses for non-Stanford international students). Graduate Admissions requires selected—not all—arriving students to take the English Proficiency exam, which has writing, speaking, and listing components. Because all accepted students are assumed to have extensive experience reading English, there is no reading component. After taking the exam, students are given a list of any required or recommended courses.
Courses in ESOL include Interacting in English, Academic Discussion, Oral Presentation, Speaking and Teaching in English, Pronunciation and Intonation, and a variety of writing courses from Gateway to Graduate Writing to Advanced Graduate Writing.
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES
Bifuh-Ambe, Elizabeth. "Postsecondary Learning: Recognizing the Needs of English Language
Learners in Mainstream University Classrooms." Multicultural Education 19.3 (2011): 13-19.
Raghunathan, Karthik. "Demystifying the American graduate admissions process." (2010). This is a paper written by a Stanford graduate who was a member of the CS admissions committee.