Ways of Thinking/Ways of Doing | Stanford Undergrad

You must take 11 courses in 8 Ways any time during your undergraduate years. Find out more about how to fulfill your Ways requirements here.

Aesthetic and Interpretive Inquiry (AII)

Ai Leen Ko inserts a sample for analysis into the FEI Titan Transmission Electron Microscope. Credit: Linda A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Applied Quantitative Reasoning (AQR)

Islamic Manuscript Illumination: History, Theory and Practice'. Seniors Barr Moses, Rose Leitner, and Andi Harrington work in Felek's class. Photo by L.A. Cicero / Stanford News Service

Scientific Method and Analysis (SMA)

I have found that WAYS can be an excellent lens to discern which theme of study I gravitate towards most, which helped me decide what I should major in. I realized fall quarter I tend to be drawn to classes that fulfill Scientific Method and Analysis (SMA) or Creative Expression (CE); as a result, I'm majoring in Architectural Design. I've been stunned at the number of classes I took simply out of interest that fulfill WAYS requirements.

--Janet Coleman-Belin, '19

Ways really allows you to break away from your specialized field of study. It teaches you to branch out and taste new academic disciplines. It's nice to have a break from all your major requirements and take classes that you're interested in learning more about. You might discover your next passion through the Ways requirements.

--Armando Banuelos, '19

The resources Stanford provides makes it easy to find a huge amount of interesting classes that meet each WAYS requirement; in fact, I find it hard to choose how to meet each requirement!

--Allison Tielking

As someone who is always creative and danced for fun, I thought that it was nice that Stanford had a WAYS requirement (Creative Expression) that encouraged me to take a creative class. This requirement caused me to take DANCE 100 my winter quarter - which intersected community service, medicine, and dance. If it wasn't for WAYS CE I most likely would not have taken a dance class at Stanford.

--Martin Alcaraz, Jr.

Ways diversifies education at Stanford.

--Gillyn Maung

The Ways for me has been an awesome chance to explore opportunities and experiences that I may have been too timid to venture into myself. It's an amazing way to feel like you are truly getting everything you can from a Stanford education and becoming a more versatile, well-rounded person.

--Toni Adeyami, '19

The Stanford WAYS program is a unique opportunity to take advantage of the wide range of classes that the university offers; it provides you with the chance to explore different interests, discover new passions, and stimulate your intellectual curiosity. In fulfilling my WAYS requirements, I have taken courses outside of my field of study that I would most likely not have taken before. The experience has allowed me to see connections between different disciplines and interact with scholars in different departments.

--Isabelle Foster

Ways is a way to challenge your ideologies .

--Jordy Portillo

Ways is one of the many ways to expand your way of thinking here at Stanford.

--Natalia Rojas

As a SLE Alum, I wanna strongly recommend SLE to the incoming freshmen for their WAYS requirement course. Structured Liberal Education (SLE) not only clears four WAYS requirements, it's also an excellent community of nerds like yourself. Philosophy discussions continue after class into dinners and midnight lounge talks. You will not only get to read philosophy, you will be philosophizing!

--Junwon Park

The Ways requirements are a wonderful way to branch out and learn about a subject that you wouldn't think you'd be interested in. For me, I was really worried about fulfilling the SMA way because I am not a "STEM person", but I was able to fulfill it with an Anthropology course, that was actually very interesting and showed me that you don't have to be a "STEM person" to find interesting classes in the sciences or maths.

--Brenna Knight, '20