Leland Stanford Junior University

Stanford University (Stanford; officially Leland Stanford Junior University,[11] colloquially the Farm) is a private research university in Stanford, California, adjacent to Palo Alto and between San Jose and San Francisco. Stanford's undergraduate program is the most selective in America.[12][13][14][15][16] Due to its academic strength, wealth, and proximity to Silicon Valley it is often cited as one of the world's most prestigious universities.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]

The university was founded in 1885 by Leland and Jane Stanford in memory of their only child, Leland Stanford Jr., who had died of typhoid fever at age 15 the previous year. Stanford was a former Governor of California and U.S. Senator; he made his fortune as a railroad tycoon. The school admitted its first students on October 1, 1891,[2][3] as a coeducational and non-denominational institution.

Stanford University struggled financially
Students compete in 36 varsity sports, and the university is one of two private institutions in the Division I FBS Pac-12 Conference. It has gained 113 NCAA team championships,[28] the most for a university (tied with UCLA), 483 individual championships, the most in Division I,[29] and has won the NACDA Directors' Cup, recognizing the university with the best overall athletic team achievement, for 22 consecutive years, beginning in 1994–1995.[30]

Stanford faculty and alumni have founded a large number of companies that produce more than $2.7 trillion in annual revenue, equivalent to the 10th-largest economy in the world.[31] It is the alma mater of 30 living billionaires, 17 astronauts, and 20 Turing Award laureates.[note 1] It is also one of the leading producers of members of the United States Congress.[52][53] 67 Nobel laureates and 7 Fields Medalists have been affiliated with Stanford as students, alumni, faculty or