Undergraduate Contacts

Student Services Specialist

Director Undergraduate Studies

Pre-Major Advising

How to Declare

  1. Declare the Physics Major on Axess. Do not select Physics Honors; this option may be elected later if you choose to pursue the Honors program.
  2. Contact the Physics Student Services Coordinator Elva Carbajal (elva [at] stanford.edu) who will assign a Physics faculty member to be your advisor for the major.
  3. Make a copy of the relevant tabs in the Physics BS course plan (also called a program sheet), fill in the grades for courses you have already completed, and indicate the pathway and courses you are considering pursuing. (Consider simply copying the google sheet so that you can then share a link with your advisor, etc.)
  4. Contact your advisor to set up a meeting (e.g., a Zoom meeting or in-person) to discuss your course plan.  Send your advisor a copy of your unofficial Stanford transcript from Axess, along with your tentative Physics BS course plan. 
  5. If you have taken a non-standard course in place of a required course or otherwise skipped a required course, especially for the required PHYSICS 41, 43, 61 + 61L, 71 + 71L, 81 + 89L courses or the MATH 50 or 60CM series, this is the time to petition for transfer credit, make-up courses, and/or substitutions, by using the Course Requirements Petition Form for any of these situations.  Discuss with your advisor any substitutions or waivers you may be contemplating for required courses;  if your advisor agrees with the substitution, they will need to sign the petition form before you send it to Elva Carbajal (elva [at] stanford.edu) for consideration for approval by the Director of Undergraduate Studies, Prof. Peter Graham.
  6. After you have completed steps 3, 4, and 5 (if applicable), send electronic versions of the signed forms by email to elva [at] stanford.edu.
  7. For Engineering/Physics Library information contact Stella Ota at stella.ota [at] stanford.edu or call her at 650-723-9763.

For further assistance or information regarding the Physics Major at Stanford University,  contact Elva Carbajal at elva [at] stanford.edu or call (650) 723-4362.

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