Transfer Applicants

Source: https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/transfer/evals.html Parent: https://admission.stanford.edu/apply/first-year/index.html

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation from two academic instructors or professors who have taught you in a class are required.

At least one of the two letters must be from a college professor. In certain situations (e.g., enrollment only in large lecture courses), a teaching assistant may be your only option. If you have been out of college for several years, but have been active in the workforce, you may substitute one work reference in place of one faculty recommendation. Similarly, military veterans may submit a commanding officer’s reference in place of one faculty recommendation.

Optional Letter

You may submit no more than one optional letter of recommendation if there is another person who knows you well and will provide new insights about you. Please add a Personal or Professional recommendation to send a request to your optional recommender to submit their letter. This is the fastest method for a letter to reach your file. Ask your recommender to note your full legal name, school name and date of birth at the top of the letter. No form is required.

Please note that we are unable to confirm receipt of optional materials that are not required for admission. These materials are not tracked in our system.

How to Submit Letters of Recommendation

• Recommendation letters should be submitted online through the Common Application whenever possible. This is the fastest method for materials to reach your file.
• If online submission is not possible, recommenders may send their letter as an email attachment to credentials@stanford.edu. They should include your full legal name, school name and date of birth at the top of the letter and in their email.
• Materials submitted by others may take a week to process after we have received your submitted application, even if your materials were sent before your application was submitted. As a standard practice, we offer a grace period after the application deadline during which school officials may submit application materials.

Frequently Asked Questions

Show All Hide All

My recommender is unable to submit their letter by the deadline. What should I do?

As a standard practice, we offer a grace period after the application deadline during which recommenders may submit application materials. Please remind your recommender to submit the materials as soon as possible. Continue to check your Stanford portal until we have received all items.

My recommender is unable to submit their letter online. Is there another way to send the document to you?

We only accept letters of recommendation sent directly from recommenders.

We strongly prefer online submission through the Common Application. If your recommender is unable to submit a letter online, then they may send the document as an email attachment to credentials@stanford.edu. Please ensure that your full legal name, school name and date of birth are included on the recommendation and in the email message.

If you need to have a letter of recommendation emailed to us, please have your recommender also indicate the type of recommendation (e.g., counselor, teacher, optional) in the email.

Updated on October 1, 2025 1:38 PM