How did you get here?

Course Description

In this class, you will answer a simple yet dizzyingly complicated question: how did you get here? All Stanford students got here somehow from somewhere, surely with the help of someone or something, but what’s your story? In what ways have you moved (or been moved) along your journey, and what do you attribute that movement to? Community? Diligence? Luck? Sacrifice? Compassion? All of the above? What does it even mean to be here?  

At the broadest level, this class centers around the major stages of development (e.g., emerging adulthood, adolescence, childhood) and self-awareness (e.g., how you navigated those stages of development, and how that navigation has shaped your perception, goals, and motivations). At a more concrete level, this class involves constructing a narrative about your journey to Stanford. In constructing that narrative, and in sharing it with your peers, you will have the opportunity to reflect on your own goals and motivations, where those goals and motivations come from, and how they might shape how you navigate life at Stanford and beyond. You will learn about the key psychological concepts (e.g., selective memory, attachment), apply them to self-narratives, interview individuals met along your journey, and sharpen your public speaking skills. You will emerge from this class with a deeper understanding of yourself and those around you, and a clearer sense of what you want out of life, and why.