10 Fun Facts about Stanford University Every Applicant Should Know

Did you know that Stanford’s legal name is Leland Stanford Junior University? Also, the school’s unofficial mascot is a tree, and its motto is a German phrase, “Die Luft der Freiheit weht,” meaning “the wind of freedom blows.” Fun facts about Stanford University like these tell you something about how the school sees itself, and that perspective is worth understanding before you apply.

Stanford’s supplemental essays give you several opportunities to show that understanding. The application requires three short essays of up to 250 words and five short-answer responses capped at 50 words. Each of these prompts rewards specificity, and referencing a tradition, a research milestone, or a piece of campus culture can ground your writing in ways that generic enthusiasm about “innovation” or “collaboration” cannot.

This guide covers ten fun facts about Stanford University worth knowing before you apply, then shows you how to use them effectively in your essays.

• Top 10 Fun Facts about Stanford University
• How to Use Stanford Fun Facts in Your Application
• Take the Next Step in Your Stanford Application
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Takeaways

Top 10 Fun Facts about Stanford University

Beyond the rankings and acceptance rates, Stanford has a personality that shows up in strange mascot choices, wartime controversy over a German motto, and a graduation ceremony where costumes are encouraged. Here are 10 fun facts about Stanford University that might surprise you:

1. The campus was a horse farm that helped launch motion pictures.

Before Stanford University existed, its land was the Palo Alto Stock Farm, an 8,180-acre estate where Leland Stanford bred racehorses. In 1878, Stanford hired photographer Eadweard Muybridge to settle a centuries-old question: do all four of a horse’s hooves leave the ground during a gallop?

Muybridge set up twelve cameras along the racetrack, each rigged to a trip wire. A horse named Sallie Gardner broke the wires mid-sprint, and the resulting photographs proved that all four hooves do lift at once.

The experiment went further than horse science. By projecting the images in rapid sequence on a device he called a zoopraxiscope, Muybridge produced one of the earliest demonstrations of moving pictures. Film historians consider it a direct precursor to cinema. Seven years later, the Stanfords founded their university on the same ground.

2. The unofficial mascot is a tree.

Stanford hasn’t had an official mascot since 1972, when the university retired its previous one (“the Indian”) after objections from Native American students. A replacement vote produced “Robber Barons” as the winner, but the administration refused to adopt it.

The Tree filled the gap instead, born from a late-night brainstorm between two marching band members on a road trip to a USC game in 1975. The band debuted it at that year’s Big Game against Cal, and the original costume was built from red construction paper, a scuba backpack, and a styrofoam cone.

A new student is selected each year through a weeklong tryout, and part of the job is building the costume from scratch. The university has never made the Tree official, but it shows up on trash cans, backpacks, and sweatshirts across campus anyway.

3. The motto is in German, and it was twice removed from the university seal.

Stanford’s motto, “Die Luft der Freiheit weht,” translates roughly to “the wind of freedom blows.” The school’s first president, David Starr Jordan, borrowed the phrase from a German-language biography of Ulrich von Hutten, a 16th-century humanist who defended Martin Luther during the Protestant Reformation.

A German motto was an unusual choice for an American university in the 1890s, and Jordan meant it as a bold statement about intellectual liberty. He placed it on the seal of the President’s Office shortly after the university opened.

The boldness backfired during wartime. Anti-German sentiment during World War I made the motto deeply unpopular, and the university disavowed its use. It was removed again during World War II. The phrase only became Stanford’s official motto in 2003, more than a century after Jordan first introduced it.

4. There are 25 fountains on campus, and students hop through them.

Fountain hopping is exactly what it sounds like: students put on swimsuits, pick a starting point, and splash their way across campus from fountain to fountain.

The tradition dates back to the 1970s and usually kicks off during New Student Orientation, when dorm groups take the plunge together. Many students keep it up year-round, especially after finals or on warm afternoons. Stanford maintains all 25 fountains to swimming pool quality, and filling them requires roughly 50,000 gallons of water.

The fountains also play a role in Stanford’s biggest rivalry. During Big Game week, every fountain on campus gets dyed cardinal red. The tradition turns the entire campus into a visual statement before the annual football matchup with UC Berkeley.

5. Graduates do the Wacky Walk.

At most universities, graduates file into a stadium in caps and gowns, row by orderly row. Stanford’s version is different. Seniors parade into Stanford Stadium in homemade costumes, and the results range from absurd to elaborate.

At the 2025 ceremony, one group built a full pirate ship labeled “Jane Stanford’s revenge.” Another student wore a pope costume flanked by classmates dressed as cardinals. Past years have featured X-wing fighters, inflatable pool toys, and matching banana suits.

The tradition is open to undergraduates only. Graduate students walk in standard academic regalia. There are guidelines about what costumes can and cannot include, but the overall tone is irreverent, and the university leans into it. The Wacky Walk has become one of the most recognized graduation traditions in American higher education.

6. The Stanford Axe was stolen in 1899, and it took 31 years to get it back.

The Axe started as a prop. In 1899, Stanford yell leader Billy Erb brought it to a baseball game against Cal and used it to decapitate a straw man dressed in Berkeley blue and gold. After Cal pulled off an upset, a group of Berkeley fans wrestled the Axe away and smuggled it across the Bay by ferry. It stayed at Cal for the next three decades.

In 1930, twenty-one Stanford students executed a recovery mission that has since become campus legend. Posing as press photographers, the group ambushed the Axe at a Cal event, grabbed it, and escaped through a multi-car relay back to Palo Alto. They became known as the “Immortal 21.”

Since 1933, the Axe has served as the official trophy of the annual Big Game between Stanford and Cal.

7. Legally Blonde was based on a real Stanford Law student’s experience.

Amanda Brown enrolled at Stanford Law School in the early 1990s and quickly felt out of place. She loved shopping, read Elle magazine between classes, and clashed with the personalities around her. The idea for Legally Blonde came to her during a torts lecture. She dropped out after two years to write the novel, drawing heavily from her own experience.

The original story is set at Stanford Law, and the main character, Elle Woods, follows her ex-boyfriend there. When the film adaptation went into production, Stanford refused to let the crew shoot on campus, so the setting was changed to Harvard.

The movie became a cultural landmark, but the Stanford connection remains largely unknown. Reese Witherspoon, who played Elle Woods, actually attended Stanford herself before leaving to pursue acting. She has publicly identified as a Stanford alum and used the school’s rallying cry, “Fear the Tree,” on social media.

8. Stanford was tuition-free for almost 30 years.

When Stanford opened its doors in 1891, students paid nothing. The Stanfords intended their university to be accessible, and the founding grant reflected that vision.

For nearly three decades, tuition was zero. That changed in January 1920, when the Board of Trustees, struggling to cover the university’s operating costs without a large enough endowment, set a fee of $40 per quarter. A year later, the rate rose to $75, partly to fund new student housing. Male students had been living three and four to a room, and some had moved in with families in Palo Alto.

Today, undergraduate tuition runs above $60,000 per year, though Stanford offers free tuition to students from families earning under $150,000. The gap between $0 and $60,000 took just over a century to open.

9. The campus has its own zip code.

Stanford’s campus spans 8,180 acres, making it one of the largest in the United States. To put that in perspective, the entire city of San Francisco fits inside roughly 30,000 acres.

The university operates under its own zip code, 94305, and functions almost like a small town. Its infrastructure includes 49 miles of roads, more than 630 buildings, three dams, two open water reservoirs, and 88 miles of water mains. Students and visitors call the campus “The Farm,” a nickname that traces back to the Stanfords’ Palo Alto Stock Farm, where the founders raised horses before the university existed.

The founding grant specified that a working farm for agricultural instruction should always be maintained on university land. In 2014, Stanford honored that clause by establishing the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm on six acres near the historic Red Barn. The farm now serves as a living laboratory for courses in sustainable agriculture.

10. The school’s legal name is still “Leland Stanford Junior University.”

The name surprises people who assume “Junior” refers to the school’s status or size. It refers to a person. Leland Stanford Jr. was the only child of railroad magnate Leland Stanford and his wife, Jane. He died of typhoid fever in Florence, Italy, in 1884, just before his sixteenth birthday. The Stanfords founded the university the following year as a memorial to their son, and they gave it his full name.

The founding grant makes the memorial purpose explicit. After their son’s death, the Stanfords determined that “the children of California shall be our children.” They built a coeducational, nonsectarian university at a time when most private institutions were all-male and religiously affiliated. The legal name has never changed.

How to Use Stanford Fun Facts in Your Application

Stanford’s supplement gives you more room to work with than most schools. You’ll write three short essays of 100 to 250 words and five short answers capped at 50 words.

The short essays ask you to reflect on an idea that excites you about learning, write a note to your future roommate, and describe what you would contribute to Stanford as an undergraduate. The short answers cover topics like the most significant challenge facing society, a historical moment you wish you had witnessed, and five things that are important to you.

With that many prompts, you have several openings to reference Stanford’s culture, history, or traditions, but the fact has to serve the essay, and each prompt rewards a different kind of specificity. Here’s how:

1. Match the fact to the right prompt.

A fun fact about Stanford University can strengthen your application, but only if you place it in the prompt where it actually belongs. The Muybridge motion photography story, for example, connects naturally to the intellectual vitality essay. A student interested in computational imaging or film science could reference that experiment and link it to a Stanford lab or course where similar work continues today. The fact grounds the response in something real about the university and gives you a foundation to build on with your own academic interests.

The roommate letter works differently. That prompt is about personality, daily habits, and the kind of energy you bring to a shared space. Mentioning fountain hopping or the Wacky Walk fits here because those traditions say something about how you want to experience campus life. A reference to Stanford’s tuition-free origins or its German motto would feel out of place in a letter that’s supposed to read like you’re talking to someone you’ll live with.

The distinctive contribution essay sits somewhere in between. It asks what you would add to Stanford’s community, which means you can reference a tradition or institutional value as long as you connect it to something specific about your own background. If you’ve organized community events and want to highlight Stanford’s culture of irreverent, student-driven traditions, the Wacky Walk or the Tree tryout process could anchor that connection.

2. Make every sentence earn its place.

Choosing the right fact and placing it in the right prompt gets your reader’s attention. What comes next determines whether the reference strengthens your essay or sits there as decoration.

With a maximum of 250 words per essay, you cannot afford a sentence that restates what the fact already communicated. The line after the fact should move the essay forward by connecting it to your own experience, a specific program, or a course you plan to take.

Here’s a strong example for the intellectual vitality essay:

• “Muybridge’s 1878 motion photography experiments on Stanford’s campus showed how a simple question about a horse’s gait could produce a technology that reshaped visual culture. I want to ask those kinds of questions in CS 231N, where computational imaging techniques are advancing how machines interpret movement, a direct extension of the problem Muybridge first solved with twelve cameras and a racetrack.”

The fact establishes context, and the next sentence identifies a specific course, a research area, and a line of reasoning that ties the applicant’s interests to Stanford’s academic offerings. Every clause does work.

Now compare that with a weaker version:

• “I love that Stanford’s campus was once a horse farm where motion pictures were invented. This shows how Stanford has always been a place of innovation, and I know I would thrive in that kind of environment because I’m passionate about technology and creativity.”

The follow-up relies on broad claims. Phrases like “place of innovation” and “passionate about technology” could appear in any application to any school. The fun fact never develops into a meaningful point because the writing stays general.

If you’re working on your Stanford essays and want feedback on how to integrate details like these, our Stanford Supplemental Essays Guide breaks down each prompt with strategies, annotated examples, and advice on writing responses that feel specific and informed.

Take the Next Step in Your Stanford Application

Understanding Stanford’s culture gives you a real advantage when you sit down to write your essays. If you want a fuller picture of how admissions works at Stanford, our How to Get into Stanford Guide covers the admissions process, what competitive applicants tend to have in common, and how to build a strong overall application.

For personalized guidance, AdmissionSight’s Standard College Counseling Program pairs you with an experienced admissions advisor who can help you refine your essays, sharpen your application narrative, and present your strongest possible candidacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are some fun facts about Stanford University?

Fun facts about Stanford University include the Muybridge motion photography experiments on the original horse farm, the Tree mascot that gets rebuilt from scratch every year, a German motto that was removed from the university seal during both World Wars, 25 fountains maintained to swimming pool quality, and the Wacky Walk at commencement.

2. Why is Stanford called “The Farm”?

The nickname comes from the university’s origins on the Palo Alto Stock Farm, where founders Leland and Jane Stanford bred racehorses. The campus was built on the 8,180-acre property, and the founding grant specified that a working farm for agricultural instruction should always be maintained on university land.

3. Does Stanford have an official mascot?

Stanford has not had an official mascot since 1972. The university’s athletic teams compete as the Cardinal, which refers to the color, and the Tree is the unofficial mascot of the Leland Stanford Junior University Marching Band. A new student designs and builds the Tree costume each year.

4. Does Stanford have a “Why Stanford” essay?

Stanford does not include a traditional “Why Stanford” prompt. Instead, the application asks three short essays of up to 250 words each, covering intellectual vitality, a roommate letter, and your potential contribution to the university. The strongest responses weave in specific knowledge of Stanford’s programs, culture, and traditions.

5. How can I mention Stanford fun facts in my application essays?

Use a fun fact only when it strengthens the point you are making in a specific prompt. The intellectual vitality essay is a natural fit for facts tied to Stanford’s research history, while the roommate letter works better for traditions like fountain hopping or the Wacky Walk. A fact that doesn’t connect to your own interests or experiences will read as filler.

Takeaways

• Fun facts about Stanford University like the Muybridge experiments, the Tree mascot, and the Wacky Walk each reflect something specific about what the school values and how its community operates.
• Stanford’s supplement includes three 250-word essays and five 50-word short answers. A well-placed fun fact can strengthen any of them, but only if it connects to the specific prompt you are answering.
• Match the fact to the prompt. Research-related facts belong in the intellectual vitality essay. Traditions and campus culture fit the roommate letter. The distinctive contribution essay works best when you tie a Stanford value to something in your own background.
• The sentence after the fact matters as much as the fact itself. Name a course, a lab, a program, or a specific experience. Generic enthusiasm after a concrete detail signals that the detail was decorative.
• Knowing the right facts gives you a head start. Turning that knowledge into a compelling application takes careful strategy. Our expert consultants provide one-on-one guidance through every part of your Stanford application.