[2006alum]

No current Stanford team players need to be accepted in a graduate school to stay a fifth year. They can stay and keep taking undergraduate classes, but many of them will try and get a graduate degree by applying to a graduate program at Stanford.

Are you sure this is true if the student has completed all necessary requirements for the BA?  At my university students get forcibly graduated to make room for the next class.  But I admit I don't know my alma mater's policy on this.

I presumed that Stanford, the most selective university in the world, would not deny a slot to an entering freshman to make room for a 5th year football player who has completed all degree requirements.  But I could be wrong.

I remember Mikaela Ruef waiting to get into her engineering program for her 5th year and I presumed the same consideration would pertain for football.

Yeah, I know from my time at Stanford I had to petition for a 13th quarter and explain why it was necessary to complete my first bachelor's. You can double major but you still need to complete it in 4 years or else show why you need the 5th - but you don't get a presumptive fifth year, and most of the time you get at most a 13th quarter, not a full year. I think the usual route in these circumstances at Stanford is to co-term, but even that you have to apply for and be accepted to, so it's possible the transfer portal is a combination of a back-up option coupled with the opportunity to see if the grass is greener.

But I really, really don't think Stanford is going to let a half dozen football players simply tack on a 13th, 14th, and 15th quarter of classes just cause.

[2006alum]

No current Stanford team players need to be accepted in a graduate school to stay a fifth year. They can stay and keep taking undergraduate classes, but many of them will try and get a graduate degree by applying to a graduate program at Stanford.

Are you sure this is true if the student has completed all necessary requirements for the BA?  At my university students get forcibly graduated to make room for the next class.  But I admit I don't know my alma mater's policy on this.

I presumed that Stanford, the most selective university in the world, would not deny a slot to an entering freshman to make room for a 5th year football player who has completed all degree requirements.  But I could be wrong.

I remember Mikaela Ruef waiting to get into her engineering program for her 5th year and I presumed the same consideration would pertain for football.

Yeah, I know from my time at Stanford I had to petition for a 13th quarter and explain why it was necessary to complete my first bachelor's. You can double major but you still need to complete it in 4 years or else show why you need the 5th - but you don't get a presumptive fifth year, and most of the time you get at most a 13th quarter, not a full year. I think the usual route in these circumstances at Stanford is to co-term, but even that you have to apply for and be accepted to, so it's possible the transfer portal is a combination of a back-up option coupled with the opportunity to see if the grass is greener.

But I really, really don't think Stanford is going to let a half dozen football players simply tack on a 13th, 14th, and 15th quarter of classes just cause.