A LU MN I
Investing in His Future: Alum Credits Stanford OHS for His Success
We recently had the chance to sit down for an interview with a distinguished alumnus, Jake Chasan, from the class of 2016. Jake started his Stanford journey in high school and is returning to the University campus for his MBA in the Class of 2026.
Louise Schultze Marketing & Outreach Specialist
Just like lightning, inspiration can strike at any time. For class of 2016 alum Jake Chasan, it was during his first class at Stanford Online High School 14 years ago, Introduction to C Programming. Now a successful Investor at Sapphire Ventures in Menlo Park, Calif., Jake credits this time at Stanford OHS for launching his career trajectory. “I’ve always liked building things,” Jake said. “I knew from a young age that computer programming would allow me the canvas to create my future.” Jake attended secondary school at The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, Calif., and recognized that although there was a strong liberal arts foundation in the school’s curriculum, he would need to seek education elsewhere to deepen his understanding of software.
sought out these courses at Stanford to supplement his education attending the school part-time, taking courses on the fundamentals of C and C++ programming, algorithms, and statistics. He believes that putting knowledge from the classroom into practice is the best way to improve his skills, and his interests led him to publish more than 20 applications for iPhone to-date, of which several have reached the top charts, and one was featured in Business Insider as part of their “10 Things on Wall Street” piece.
as much as I wanted to learn. No question on the topic at-hand was off limits. That was critical for me because every program I’ve written today stemmed from that original Intro to C class. Many programmers start their computer science journey in their first year of college, but I learned it as a freshman in high school.”
“I credit a lot of my success to Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Studies programs and specially the Stanford OHS program,” Jake said. “What blew my mind about my first class at Stanford OHS is that the professors were willing to work with me
While a high school student in La Jolla, Jake joined classes virtually, and during the summers, Jake participated on-campus through summer college and Summer@ Stanford. After high school, Jake attended Duke University for undergrad, studying Computer Science and Economics with a concentration in Finance. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, with distinction in both subjects a semester early.
“I tried to learn programming on my own through tutorials, but felt like I didn’t have the fundamentals,” he added. The opportunity to study through Stanford’s Pre-Collegiate Studies programs allowed Jake to learn computer science at a university level from a young age. Throughout high school, Jake
22
Jake on Stanford Campus as a Pre-matriculation Studies Student in Summer 2013.
To Jake, programming languages are akin to spoken languages. “I think of myself as speaking C fluently and have dreamt in code,” he recounted.
After Duke, Jake started his career on Wall Street as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs in New York (even appearing in Mark Wahlburg’s show “Wahl Street”), where he managed to work on $65B+ of completed transactions including