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Students practice in the Roble Dance Studio. Credit: Linda Cicero

Choosing Courses

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We hope the following resources will help you develop a personally coherent, meaningful education from Stanford's diverse course offerings.  

Students from the Thinking Matters program gather on the Quad. Credit: Linda Cicero

Frosh-Friendly Courses

Frosh-Friendly Courses allow students to explore a field of study early in their Stanford careers, generally with minimal or no prerequisites.

 Juniors Clara Galperin and Josie Hodson, both art history majors, work on their honors thesis proposals in the Bowes Art and Architecture Library. Credit: Linda Cicero

One Unit Wonders and Terrific Twos

There are many courses at Stanford that are only 1 or 2 units, including “introduction to the field” courses, speaker-series courses, and activity courses. 

Stanford lecturer Lupita Ruiz-Jones generates electrical impulses by flexing her biceps during a class meeting of How Does Your Brain Work?  Credit: Linda Cicero

Courses for your General Education Requirements (GERs)

Learn how to select courses for your COLLEGE, writing, foreign language, and Ways requirements.

Your Questions Answered

For more advice on choosing your courses, check out the Advising Student Handbook, and particularly the following pages:

Additional Resources for Choosing Courses

Exploring Your Stanford Courses

Unsure how to navigate among all your course choices?  This video presentation by your Academic Advisors will help you get started!

Incredible Introsems

Introductory Seminars (IntroSems) offer small-group courses taught by esteemed faculty to frosh and sophomores. Class sizes are small, with priority given to those who apply in advance.  

Stanford Syllabus Project

Want to learn more about a particular course?  This archive allows you to read past and present course syllabuses posted by faculty.

Take Classes with Award-Winning Teachers

Explore courses taught by award-winning faculty from departments across campus. Stanford honors faculty, staff, and students for outstanding service and commitment to the University’s mission through a variety of University Awards.

Gateway Courses in the Humanities

Interested in studying the humanities and arts, but don't know where to begin? Browse our list of Gateway Courses in the Humanities.  You can also find humanities courses by typing the special tag HUMSCI::humanities directly in the search bar of ExploreCourses.

The Humanities Core

Explore traditions, texts, ideas, intellectual and literary history around the world. 

STEM Roadmap

This interactive tool from the School of Engineering shows some common pathways to starting different majors in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

Oral Communication Courses

Check out courses that will teach you the fundamental principles of public speaking.