Recent Stanford alum here. I think it's difficult to parse out exactly why CS is becoming popular at Stanford now.
I would argue that the principal reason for the popularity of CS is because of the amazing teaching in the introductory courses, not the recent tech acquisitions or news coming from Silicon Valley.
Very few departments at Stanford put in the kind of effort to bring students along that I've seen in computer science (most prominently, the use of an army of qualified undegraduate students to serve as TAs for the introductory courses). Almost every engineering student I know has taken an intro CS course, and an easy majority of everyone else has at least attempted to do so as well. They're fun, easy, and accessible.
I would be interested to see the same sort of effort put into say, introductory physics or chemistry. The now-second most popular major, Human Biology, also represents a very big effort to reach out to students.
I would argue that the principal reason for the popularity of CS is because of the amazing teaching in the introductory courses, not the recent tech acquisitions or news coming from Silicon Valley.
Very few departments at Stanford put in the kind of effort to bring students along that I've seen in computer science (most prominently, the use of an army of qualified undegraduate students to serve as TAs for the introductory courses). Almost every engineering student I know has taken an intro CS course, and an easy majority of everyone else has at least attempted to do so as well. They're fun, easy, and accessible.
I would be interested to see the same sort of effort put into say, introductory physics or chemistry. The now-second most popular major, Human Biology, also represents a very big effort to reach out to students.