[PVTree]

true, but...imo deadlines are not imposed for the sake of education - ie students and faculty - but rather for the convenience of administrators, who gradually feel like they own the school.

I am one of the vocal critics of Stanford's excess of administrators and these administrator's unintended assumption of powers. That said, AFAIK the faculty is the group that controls graduate admissions. If some administrator(s) are making it harder than it needs to be, I strongly suspect the faculty would put them in their place very quickly. The graduate admissions process is a jealously guarded faculty prerogative. They aren't going to be pushed around in that regard. For that reason, the way it is is probably the way the faculty wants it to be.

faculty certainly control the particular students admitted. i believe they defer to administrators on the exact timeline and, in particular, on flexibility of deadlines. maybe i'm wrong...

Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program and range from November to March for full-time programs.

https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/appl...-deadlines

and here you can look up deadlines by program

https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/explore-programs

a quick scan of the masters programs shows most with Dec or Jan deadlines

two of the latest deadline I saw for 2024-25 were

- Master of Liberal Arts - Apr 26, 2024 (although this appears to be a four to five year part time program so likely not applicable in this discussion)
- Master in Philosophy - Mar 19, 2024

Question, can non-athletes who graduate early from high school start classes at Stanford in the spring quarter or do they have to wait until the fall quarter? 

If only athletes are able to get this benefit, is it too far fetched that they may also get the benefit of applying to a grad program after the "non-athlete deadline"?

[PVTree]

true, but...imo deadlines are not imposed for the sake of education - ie students and faculty - but rather for the convenience of administrators, who gradually feel like they own the school.

I am one of the vocal critics of Stanford's excess of administrators and these administrator's unintended assumption of powers. That said, AFAIK the faculty is the group that controls graduate admissions. If some administrator(s) are making it harder than it needs to be, I strongly suspect the faculty would put them in their place very quickly. The graduate admissions process is a jealously guarded faculty prerogative. They aren't going to be pushed around in that regard. For that reason, the way it is is probably the way the faculty wants it to be.

faculty certainly control the particular students admitted. i believe they defer to administrators on the exact timeline and, in particular, on flexibility of deadlines. maybe i'm wrong...

Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program and range from November to March for full-time programs.

https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/appl...-deadlines

and here you can look up deadlines by program

https://gradadmissions.stanford.edu/explore-programs

a quick scan of the masters programs shows most with Dec or Jan deadlines

two of the latest deadline I saw for 2024-25 were

- Master of Liberal Arts - Apr 26, 2024 (although this appears to be a four to five year part time program so likely not applicable in this discussion)
- Master in Philosophy - Mar 19, 2024

Question, can non-athletes who graduate early from high school start classes at Stanford in the spring quarter or do they have to wait until the fall quarter? 

If only athletes are able to get this benefit, is it too far fetched that they may also get the benefit of applying to a grad program after the "non-athlete deadline"?