Entrance Requirements

Before you can become a student at Stanford, you must complete certain health-related forms, immunizations and tests.

Deadlines

All entrance medical requirements for freshman are due by June 30, for graduate and undergraduate transfer students by July 31.

If you will arrive or have arrived within the last five years from certain countries (see instructions on Tuberculosis screening), you have until September 25 to come to Vaden Health Center to be tested for tuberculosis or have a consultation. However, you'll need to submit the other entrance medical requirements by June 30 or July 31 depending on which date applies to you.

Six Must-Do Requirements Before Entering Stanford

Please make sure you have read the material below and collected the required information.

1. Personal Information
2. Immunizations
3. Your Health History
4. Tuberculosis Screening
5. Agreement to Treatment
6. Notice of Privacy Practices

1. Personal Information

Gather all your health history, medication and immunization records, and family health history. Review them with family members. Then complete the following sections using the links below (use your new Stanford ID and password). This establishes your personal medical file at Vaden Health Center.

2. Immunizations (with special attention to Measles, Mumps, and Rubella)

Measles, mumps, and rubella are serious communicable diseases that can spread in close living or classroom environments. All students must be vaccinated to prevent these outbreaks.

If you were born after 1956, you must provide the following information even if it differs from the practices in your state or country of origin:

For Measles AND Mumps: Provide ONE of the following:

• Dates of vaccination with one measles/mumps/rubella PLUS a second vaccine that contains measles and mumps or
• For measles: date and physician’s signature of physician-diagnosed measles OR
• Dates and titer results of blood tests (serology) confirming immunity to measles and mumps

For Rubella: Provide ONE of the following

• Date of vaccination (one rubella OR one measles/mumps/rubella). OR
• Date and titer results of blood test (serology) confirming immunity

If you have not previously completed these requirements you will need to be immunized now. A combined measles/mumps/rubella immunization is available at Vaden's Allergy, Immunization and Injection Clinic for a fee. Cardinal Care, Stanford’s student health insurance plan, does not cover this expense.

There are additional immunization requirements for entering medical students.

A student may request a religious or philosophical exemption from the immunization requirement by writing to the Director of Vaden Health Center prior to June 30 for freshmen and July 31 for graduate and undergraduate transfer students. Attitudes, beliefs, or preferences that are purely personal are not grounds for an exemption.

3. Health History

This information gives the Vaden Health Center staff your medical history enabling us to treat you effectively. The information in your file is electronically secure and completely confidential. It cannot be released without your consent, except as required by law.

4. Tuberculosis Screening

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that can be spread in close living or classroom environments. All students must answer the questions in this section. Tuberculosis rates are high in certain countries. Students who are natives of a high risk country coming to the U.S. for the first time, or natives who have arrived within the past 5 years from a country where tuberculosis is endemic must get a tuberculosis test. If you have arrived from a country listed below, you DO NOT need a tuberculosis test. All other countries are considered high risk. All students arriving from the African region, Eastern Mediterranean region, Southeast Asian region as well as Russia are considered high risk, and must be tested. All medical students must be tested.

Tuberculosis testing must be administered by a physician or public health department in the U.S. or Canada. The result must be entered into the Tuberculosis Screening form (downloadable) and you must return it to Vaden Health Center. Tuberculosis skin tests administered in the U.S. and Canada that are reported as positive or negative without a measurement of reaction in mm, and/or conducted more than six months prior to arriving at Stanford, cannot be accepted. Unsigned forms cannot be accepted. A history of BCG immunization does not fulfill this requirement, and it does not preclude you from having a PPD test.

Quantiferon (QFT) blood tests for TB done in the US/Canada are an acceptable substitute for TB skin tests.

A skin test is available at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in San Jose, California, for a fee (call 408-792-5586), or at Vaden's Allergy, Immunization and Injection Clinic for a fee. Cardinal Care, Stanford’s student health insurance plan, does not cover this expense.

Positive Tuberculosis Screening Tests
A positive skin test in the past should not be repeated. If your TB skin test (or Quantiferon test) was ever positive (10 mm or more induration) or if you have ever been treated for TB, you must have a chest X-ray in the U.S. or Canada within six months of your arrival at Stanford. The results of the chest X-ray must be entered on or attached to the (downloadable) Tuberculosis Screening form and returned to Vaden Health Center.

Please submit the reports of any chest X-rays (not the films themselves) and documentation of any treatment.  Do not take additional tests or X-rays before you arrive in the United States.  X-rays performed outside the U.S. and Canada do not meet the requirements.

A chest X-ray is available at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department in San Jose, California for a fee (call 408-792-5586), or at Vaden's Allergy, Immunization and Injection Clinic for a fee. Cardinal Care, Stanford’s student insurance plan, does not cover this expense.

5. Agreement to Treatment

This section presents the Vaden Health Center Agreement to Treatment form, which you must read and sign before we can provide medical services to you.

6. Notice of Privacy Practices

This section presents the Vaden Health Center Notice of Privacy Practices which you must read and acknowledge before we can provide health services to you.

Please see Online Security for information regarding how we keep your medical information secure during the online submission process and what to do if you have problems accessing the online form.

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