When applying to some of the top colleges in the country you may begin to wonder who actually went there. In this blog we take a look at Stanford and 15 of their famous alumni.
Sports
Both NFL stars Andrew Luck (Architectural Design, 2008) and Richard Sherman (Communication, 2010) played and graduated from Stanford. Luck and Sherman were teammates at Stanford and were part of the 2010 team that went a program-best 12-1 that season.
Luck went on to be the 1st overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft to the Indianapolis Colts and has been their starting quarterback ever since. Luck led the Colts to the playoffs in each of his first three seasons and has been Pro Bowl selection four times.
Sherman entered the NFL draft in 2011 and went in the fifth round to the Seattle Seahawks. He lived up higher than where he was selected as he was an integral part to Seattle’s “Legion of Boom” defense — winning Super Bowl XLVIII and being a four-time Pro Bowl selection.
United States women’s national soccer team legend Julie Foudy (Biology, 1993) also went to Stanford. She was part of the “Golden Era” of US women’s soccer — winning two FIFA Women’s World Cups (1991 & 1999) and two Olympic gold medals (1996 & 2004). She was inducted to the National Soccer Hall of Fame and currently has a career in broadcast.
Politics
31st President Herbert Hoover studied Geology at Stanford and graduated in 1895. Retired Associate Justices of the Supreme Court Sandra Day O’ Connor (Economics, 1950) and Anthony Kennedy (Political Science, 1958) were also Stanford alumni.
U.S Senator and presidential candidate Cory Booker got both his B.A (Political Science, 1991) and M.A. (Sociology, 1992) at Stanford.
Television Host and Political Commentator Rachel Maddow studied Public Policy at Stanford in 1994.
Science
NASA astronaut Sally Ride earned her bachelors (English & Physics), masters (Physics), and Ph. D (Physics) all at Stanford. She was the first American woman in space and also the youngest American astronaut overall. She would return to Stanford to work at the Center for International Security and Arms Control in 1987.
Business
Co-fouder of Nike Phil Knight (Business Administration, 1962), co-founder of Netflix Reed Hastings (Masters in Computer Science, 1988), co-founder of PayPal Peter Thiel (Philosophy, 1988) and co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman (Symbolic Systems & Cognitive Science, 1990) all are Stanford alumni. CEO of Yahoo! Marissa Mayer studied Symbolic Systems in 1997.
Entertainment
Actress Sigourney Weaver studied English at Stanford in 1972. She had roles on Alien, Ghostbusters and Avatar.
