In 1967, shortly before turning 18, Weaver visited Israel and volunteered on a kibbutz for several months. On her return to the United States, she attended Sarah Lawrence College. After her freshman year, she transferred to Stanford University as an English major. At Stanford, Weaver was extensively involved in theater. She performed in a group named the "Palo Alto Company", doing Shakespeare plays and "commedia dell'arte in a covered wagon" around the Bay Area, the nature of which she considered "outrageous". She avoided Stanford's drama department, as she believed their productions were too "stuffy" and "safe". Weaver had planned to enter Stanford's Ph.D. English program and eventually pursued a career as a writer or a journalist, but changed her mind after getting frustrated by the "deadly dry" honors courses. She eventually graduated in 1972 with a B.A. in English. Weaver subsequently applied to Yale University's School of Drama, performing Bertolt Brecht's "Saint Joan of the Stockyards" at her audition, and was accepted.