FAQ

The Stanford Continuing Studies unit issues credit and transcripts for a variety of Stanford programs that serve non-matriculated students, including the University-Level Online program. Continuing Studies credit is not the same as Stanford University credit. Transferability of credit is at the discretion of the receiving institution.

This is one of the most common questions we receive, however, there is no single answer. Various schools, universities, districts, etc. have differing policies regarding credit issued by CSP. Most commonly, credits for University-Level Online courses are used to place out of required courses in college, while a smaller number actually provide transfer credit. Prospective students should inquire with institutions themselves regarding policies regarding credit.

As all University-Level Online courses are considered post-high school, they do not fall in line with the UC's subject requirements which is related to high school courses. The University-Level Online program has not gone through the accreditation process for UC C subject material.

Stanford Online High School (OHS) offers the same university-level courses within University-Level Online. When the OHS was formed in 2006, it centered on Education Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) courses in addition to basic core courses. Thus, the university-level courses were used, as they were, for the OHS for several years. Over time, the OHS enrollment in the entry-level UL courses (Multivariable Calculus, Linear Algebra) increased and it was deemed necessary to create distinct OHS courses, though these are essentially the same curriculum. The high-level courses and physics courses (e.g. Real Analysis, Complex Analysis, etc.) have small OHS enrollment and are handled by the University-Level Online program. Here students in both programs sit in the same class, though OHS students have access to all the amenities that the OHS offers in addition to more instructor support. University-Level Online students receive credit through the Continuing Studies Program while OHS students receive credit through the OHS itself. OHS is a WASC accredited institution and students can easily transfer these credits to their brick and mortar schools. By offering Continuing Studies credit, the University-Level Online program emphasizes that these courses are at the university-level.

At the current time, there are no lab components to University-Level Online courses. 

The university-level courses were created in the late 1990s to be comparable to Stanford math and physics courses. The XP645 and XP670 physics course have been revised within the past ten years.

As Stanford courses can fluctuate based on current instructors’ styles and interests, there is no single benchmark to compare.

The courses were developed directly from the curriculum of Professor Peter Michelson’s courses.

Originally developed for EPGY by Professor Mason Yearian in 1995. The thermodynamics portion of the course is now drawn mainly from Professor Douglass Osheroff’s course from about 20 years ago. The optics portion of the course has been revamped to include a more rigorous introduction to electromagnetic waves, polarization, and interference in addition to elements of Professor Osheroff’s course.

Originally developed for EPGY by Professor Mason Yearian in 1996 to be comparable to Stanford’s P70 course at the time. This course was redeveloped around 2010 to focus solely on the two pillars of modern physics-relativity and quantum mechanics. This course is distinct from current Stanford offerings (Physics 61 and 71).

Special relativity is approached from a spacetime diagrammatic approach stressing the geometrical structure of spacetime. Building from the principle of special relativity and causality the following are explored: kinematical effects, spacetime metric, Lorentz transformation, relativistic momentum and energy, dynamics. Quantum mechanics focuses on observables with discrete eigenvalues (e.g. polarization) thereby allowing a deeper exploration of Hilbert space, quantum states, operators acting within Hilbert space, entanglement and Bell inequalities, time evolution, uncertainty relations, and solving the Schrödinger equation for simple one-dimensional systems.

The nine math and five physics courses within the University-Level Online program have their origins in the Education Program for Gifted Youth (1989 - 2013) at Stanford University. EPGY was formed out of the research efforts in computer-based education of Professor Patrick Suppes (1922 -2014) stemming from the early 1960s. The course curricula were created between the years of 1994 and 2003 and were originally computer-based, delivered via the EPGY system software. The initial grant was to create a suite of lower and upper division courses equivalent to those offered in Stanford’s math and physics department. The math sequence involved professors Ralph Cohen and Rafe Mazzeo (former chair of the mathematics department). Their voices appear on the Number Theory, Modern Algebra, and Partial Differential Equations respectively. The courses were created by Dr. Marc Sanders (now at Vice Provost for Learning and Technology) and is the voice of the remaining math courses. The physics sequence involved Professors Mason Yearian (emeritus), Michelson, Scott Thomas (now at Rutgers University), and Leonard Susskind. The physics courses were created by Dr. Gary Oas, director of University-Level Online, and is the voice on all courses except XP730 for which Professor Susskind recorded the core set of lectures 

In 2013 the bulk of EPGY’s curriculum (K-8, writing, and AP courses) were transferred to Redbird Learning to continue the delivery and maintenance of those courses. The EPGY university- level courses remained at Stanford under the newly formed Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies program (SPCS). The set of 15 courses were ported to the Stanford Online platform, now Lagunita at lagunita.stanford.edu. The University-Level Online program now leverages some of the strategies and technologies that have been perfected at the OHS (proctoring, live session environment, Powerschool integration).

The University-Level Online program is currently headed by Dr. Gary Oas, who has been associated with these courses since 1995 and is the instructor for the physics courses. Dr. Oas has been involved with most of the programs within SPCS: he is an instructor for the Online High School, Summer Institutes, and Summer College Academy. Dr. Margarita Kanarsky is the instructor for the mathematics courses and does the bulk of instruction. Dr. Kanarsky is also an instructor for the Online High School. Administrative support is provided by Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies.