Admissions Building - Where Visits Begin

Photo © Scott Lincke

A stop on Menlo College Campus Walk, a free self-guided tour.

You are standing by the Admissions Building, just inside the main entrance from El Camino Real. This is where scheduled campus visits check in, and where the admissions team meets prospective students and families. If you want a student-led tour or a conversation with a counselor, check the college website for current visit times.

Menlo College opened in 1927 as a junior college added to the Menlo School for Boys. That first year it enrolled 27 students, all young men who planned to finish their first two years here and then transfer. In 1949 Menlo added a four-year School of Business Administration, women were admitted starting in 1971, and since 1986 Menlo has been a four-year college only. Today it has about 810 students.

Long before any of that, this land was home to Ohlone peoples. It later belonged to Faxon Dean Atherton and his wife Dominga, the family the town is named for.

Look around: the gym, the pool and the campus lawns are all a short walk away.

Getting here: Start here. Visitors usually park in the lot beside the Administration Building near the El Camino Real entrance - a visitor parking pass may be required, so check the college's parking page - then walk to the Admissions Building beside the pool.

Did you know?: In the early 1930s Stanford considered dropping its freshman and sophomore years, and Menlo might have become its lower-division college. Stanford decided in 1932 to stay a four-year university.

Photo op: Stand on the walkway in front of the Admissions Building and frame its entrance with the oaks that shade this side of campus.

Admissions Building - Where Visits Begin

Stops on this tour