Stanford University

Stanford University is located in Palo Alto, California (near but not in San Francisco), and is the one where Sam Winchester was studying at the beggining of the series.

Stanford & the US College Experience
Stanford is four-year university, wich means after four years a student graduates with a bachelors degree in whatever he/she decided to major in. Stanford is also an expensive private school that does not give merit-based scholarships, so Sam probably got scholarships from other sources or need-based grants or loans through the school. Considering that his father is basically unemplyed with zero income, Sam was a pretty good candidate for need-based financial aid. However, he would have been unable to get student loans for the same reason; they require an employed adult co-signer.

Most student live in on campus in dorms (on-campus housing) in the first couple of years, and only juniors or seniors are likely to live in off-campus apartments.

The way most US colleges work is that undergrads are required to take some number of classes in different fields -- like they have to take a certain number of humanities classes, a certain number of science classes, etc. However, it is worth noting that this not necessarily strictly the case for Stanford, as each school does ir differently.

In addition to these required classes, some time around their second year, students declare a major to make it official what they're going to study, but it's very typical for US college students to change their major at least once without bureaucratic difficulty.

There isn't an actual major for pre-law, so Sam would probaly have beenmajoring in something like political science, English, or economics, though he could have been majoring in anything and still been planning to go to law school. There are guidelines for areas of study for people who want to go to law school (pre-law programs or the like), but it's not usually something he/she officially declares.

Academic calendar
You can find out about Stanford's semester dates here.

Level Ranks of Students

 * 1st year - Freshman
 * 2nd year - Sophomore
 * 3rd year - Junior
 * 4th year - Senior

Further informaton
You can find more information specific to Stanford's programs here. The About Stanford page is also great for general information on the culture of the university.