Stanford is associated with a lot of famous and influential people… do undergraduates have access to these people? I’m not talking about sitting down and having coffee with them, just meeting and shaking their hand.
Maybe if she comes to campus and you attend an event?
I went to UT Austin and was an officer in the engineering honor society. One of our speakers was Robert Crippen, a space shuttle commander, and I got to talk to him. So you never know!
Undergrads, grads, regular staff all have access- or not- to other people in the community based on many variables. If you take a class that they are teaching that’s one thing. If you see them walking across campus that’s another. As in @MaineLonghorn’s experience you are most likely to meet high-flyers in your subject area. When you attend a college you become part of an academic community, and people like Condolezza Rice continue to be involved with the academic community largely b/c they have a real interest in their field and want to pass that along to the next generation.
Of course, as with any community, respecting people’s personal space is important.
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And at Stanford, respecting the space of highly visibility people is an unwritten rule. During our S time on campus he talked about walking past many celebrities - it’s commonplace. In one class he sat next to a person who had recently won multiple Olympic gold medals.
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