In a letter sent this week to the newly admitted Class of 2030, President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez emphasized the distinctive features of the Stanford experience, including a commitment to excellence, a culture of inquiry, and a community that supports students while offering opportunities for growth and discovery.

Congratulations on your admission to Stanford’s Class of 2030!

Each year, we welcome a new class of students whose curiosity, talent, and sense of purpose give us confidence in the future. As you consider the next chapter in your educational journey, we are delighted to invite you to join this community, and we’d like to tell you more about it.

Stanford is unapologetically committed to excellence. We offer a rigorous education, accompanied by the resources to ensure you can thrive here. Surrounded by new people, experiences, and ideas, you’ll tackle new challenges – and embrace new opportunities for growth. Whether it’s a difficult-but-rewarding class or a quarter studying abroad in an unfamiliar place, stretching beyond your comfort zone will teach you more about both the world and yourself. You’ll cultivate curiosity and resilience, traits that inform not only what you learn, but also how you think.

In this moment, those traits matter more than ever. Advances in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies (many of them developed right here on the Farm) are transforming everything from how we process information to what we’re able to create. At Stanford, you will have extraordinary opportunities to engage with these tools, understand how they function, explore their possibilities, and consider their implications for society. You will develop fluency in the technologies that are reshaping our work and our world. And crucially, your education will strengthen the skills that no technology can replace, like judgment, critical analysis, and clear communication. These are the enduring foundations of leadership in any field.

Stanford’s culture of inquiry is defined by our shared commitment to pursuing knowledge wherever it leads – by asking questions, testing assumptions, and embracing new understanding. Here, you will encounter ideas that challenge your perspectives and peers whose backgrounds and experiences differ from your own. Both in and out of the classroom, we are counting on you to help foster an environment where we engage differing views with rigor, humility, and respect. The free exchange of ideas is central to both your Stanford education and your future as citizens of a pluralistic society.

If you choose to join us, you will find a community that both stretches and supports you. You will learn from faculty who are leaders in their fields and meet lifelong friends whose talents and aspirations inspire you. You will have opportunities to pursue your interests across disciplines, to engage with pressing global challenges, and to contribute to a campus culture that is at once vibrant, thoughtful, and deeply engaged with the world. Chances are, you’ll also spend a decent amount of time under the palm trees in the California sun, go on wacky adventures with your dormmates, stay up too late making memories, and maybe even hop in a fountain or two along the way.

A Stanford education is about more than just what you accomplish here. It’s also about who you will become in the process. It is an invitation to develop your abilities to their fullest extent – in service of lives of meaning and purpose.

We extend this invitation with deep appreciation for your hard work in getting to this moment and excitement at the opportunities ahead of you. Come fall, we hope you will join us.

Sincerely,

Jon Levin, President

Jenny S. Martinez, Provost