FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
To be eligible for graduate study at Stanford University, you must meet the requirements of the graduate program(s) that you wish to pursue and hold the equivalent of a U.S. bachelor's degree from a college or university of recognized standing. See Stanford's guidelines for minimum level of study for international applicants. (The Office of Graduate Admissions, not Knight-Hennessy Scholars, sets these policies.)
If you graduated with your first/bachelor's degree more than seven years before your intended enrollment date (in 2018 or earlier, for the autumn 2026 intake), then you are not eligible for consideration as a Knight-Hennessy scholar. This applies even if you have earned an additional degree in 2019 or later. You may still apply to the Stanford graduate program of your choice, and there are many other options for funding your graduate education at Stanford. (Those who served in their country's military have two additional years of eligibility.)
If you have been granted DACA status, do not hold formal citizenship in any country, or are otherwise undocumented, you are eligible to apply for graduate study and matriculate at Stanford University and Knight-Hennessy Scholars. For more information, please see the Undocumented at Stanford website.
If you have earned a graduate degree, you remain eligible to enroll as a Knight-Hennessy scholar in 2026 as long as you earned your first/bachelor's degree in 2019 or later. (Those who served in their country's military have two additional years of eligibility.)
If you are a Stanford PhD student who will start your PhD in 2025, you may apply to KHS in 2025 such that you will start KHS in 2026 (your second year of PhD enrollment). Otherwise, if you enrolled in a graduate degree program at Stanford in 2024 or earlier, you are ineligible for consideration as a Knight-Hennessy scholar for your current degree program. Please review the next FAQ if you are an enrolled Stanford graduate student with the intention to apply to a second degree program at the university.
You are welcome to apply to Knight-Hennessy Scholars if you defer enrollment to 2026, or if you apply for a new graduate degree program at Stanford that starts in 2026.
No. Deferral of enrollment to a graduate program is the purview of that department. Most Stanford programs do not offer deferrals though some - such as the professional schools of business, law, and medicine - allow deferrals. Regardless of the graduate program's policy, Knight-Hennessy Scholars does not defer scholar offers. If you are selected as a Knight-Hennessy scholar and are unable to enroll, you must reapply for admission for the year you intend to enroll.
If you defer enrollment to a Stanford graduate program, you may apply to start as a Knight-Hennessy scholar for the year that you enroll in that graduate program. For example, if you have been admitted to the Stanford MBA Program and deferred enrollment to September 2026, then you may apply to Knight-Hennessy Scholars in 2025 to enroll as a scholar in 2026 — thus aligning your initial enrollment in the MBA Program and as a Knight-Hennessy scholar. If you have already received admission to one of Stanford's graduate programs and deferred enrollment to 2026 or later, you may apply to be a Knight-Hennessy scholar. Plan to apply for the year that you would enroll in your graduate program.
Please refer to the list below to confirm whether you are eligible to apply to KHS. Awards marked "No" may not be combined with KHS and may not be discontinued in order to apply to KHS.
- ARCS: Achievement Rewards for College Scientists (Yes)
- CCSRE: Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity Graduate Fellowships (No)
- DARE: Diversifying Academic, Recruiting Excellence Fellowship (Yes)
- EDGE: Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education Doctoral Fellowship Program (Yes)
- Gerald J. Lieberman Fellowship (Yes)
- Humanities & Sciences Diversity Fellowship (Yes)
- RAISE: Research, Action, and Impact through Strategic Engagement Doctoral Fellowship (Yes)
- SGF: Stanford Graduate Fellowship in Science & Engineering (Yes)
- Shoucheng Zhang Graduate Fellowship (No)
- SIGF: Stanford Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowship (Yes)
While we generally encourage a distinct approach to each application, your content may overlap if it satisfies requirements for both applications.
Some materials may be identical across the applications, like your transcripts. Others may be very similar, like your resume. However, you may or may not want to ask the same recommenders to write letters for each of your applications. And you will certainly want to write different essays/personal statements that answer the different prompts in the two applications.
We encourage you to continue learning about KHS application materials, and also to check with the Stanford degree program(s) to confirm its application requirements. Your program may require additional materials that KHS does not.
To be eligible for graduate study, you must have earned a U.S. bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university of recognized standing. See Stanford's guidelines for minimum level of study. For questions on this policy, contact the Office of Graduate Admissions, not the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program.
In most cases, you are eligible to apply to a graduate program even if you did not study that precise field as an undergraduate; please refer to the graduate degree program’s website for specific information about its requirements.
Yes, some of our applicants choose to apply to more than one degree program at Stanford University. Note, you are unable to apply to more than one academic program simultaneously in most cases. Please review the policies at Stanford Graduate Admissions.
No, Knight-Hennessy Scholars does not review your Stanford degree program application(s) or associated documents. While the separate admission committees do not share application materials (except in very rare cases when it may aid evaluation efforts), we check in at regular intervals with Stanford departments and programs to verify which KHS applicants have submitted their degree program application and remain competitive for admission.
We recognize that many institutions (including Stanford University) adopted a pass/fail or credit/no credit grading policy in response to COVID-19. We will not penalize you for an institutional change that was out of your control. We will continue to review your application contextually.
Transcripts and degree documents that are in a language other than English must be accompanied by an official English translation.
Although we expect Knight-Hennessy scholars to have performed well, there is no minimum requirement for your grades or scores. Please consult the graduate degree program website for their admission requirements including any relevant minimums for grades or scores.
If you will not have test scores until after the Knight-Hennessy Scholars application deadline, you may leave the test scores section of the application blank when you submit your application. You may provide the scores when they are available via your application status page, which you can access only after submitting your application. If you recently sat for an exam that provides unofficial scores immediately upon completion, you may report those to us.
Yes, you may do this by submitting the Test Score Update form on your status page after you submit your application.
Yes, please submit all test scores required by the graduate degree programs to which you are applying.
If the Stanford graduate degree program to which you are applying requires you to submit English proficiency test results, then you must submit them to Knight-Hennessy Scholars as well.
All Stanford graduate degree programs accept the TOEFL. The MBA Program is the only Stanford graduate program that also accepts the IELTS and PTE. Some departments only accept scores obtained within the last 18 months, while others accept scores for 24 months. You may read more about this policy on the Graduate Admissions website (TOEFL) or MBA Admissions Office website (TOEFL, IELTS, or PTE).
Although there is no minimum test score required for Knight-Hennessy Scholars, you must meet the minimum requirements, if any, set forth by the graduate degree program to which you are applying. The minimum TOEFL score for most graduate degree programs at Stanford is 100iBT or 600PBT. Please check the department websites for information about required English tests.
Yes, you may. However, when choosing recommenders, please remember that your applications have distinct evaluation criteria, application requirements, selection processes and timelines, and admissions committees. If you choose the same recommenders, please encourage your recommenders to tailor their letters for each application.
Your Knight-Hennessy Scholars recommendations are typically the only recommendation letters that we will review before we provide input to your graduate program(s). We may occasionally request to access and review your recommendation letters for your graduate degree program(s) if we believe they will aid us in our evaluation efforts. However, we encourage you to apply with the knowledge that we do not customarily review your recommendation letters for your graduate degree program(s).
It is inappropriate to ask a family member to provide a recommendation. A friend is different from a peer. A peer is someone with whom you have worked towards a common goal. You may ask a peer for a recommendation.
Please use a work email address when available.
Do not delay submitting your application because you are waiting for a recommendation letter. You may submit your application before your recommendation letters are received. Even if your recommendation letters are unexpectedly delayed, you must complete and submit your portion of the application by the deadline to be considered for admission.
Improbable facts are aspects about you - experiences, beliefs, traits, skills, etc. - that seem unlikely but are true. These could include: facts that people wouldn’t expect to be true and/or facts that others are surprised to learn about you. This does not mean a list of achievements. Use this as a way to show a different side of you. And have some fun!
No. You must complete both your Knight-Hennessy Scholars application AND the entire application process for your graduate degree program(s), including any standardized test that your graduate degree program(s) requires (GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) and, if applicable, an English proficiency test (TOEFL; or, for MBA program only, IELTS or PTE). The Stanford graduate degree program application(s) may require a fee. Please visit the graduate program(s) for specific information about its requirements.
No. You must receive an offer of admission from a Stanford graduate degree program in order to be a Knight-Hennessy scholar. KHS cannot admit you to Stanford! For this reason, we check in with Stanford graduate degree programs at regular intervals to verify which candidates have applied and remain competitive for admission to the degree program. We advance only those KHS applicants whom the degree program verifies are eligible.
Yes. It happens every year that some applicants are not selected for KHS, but still receive an admission offer from the Stanford degree program(s). Many of these applicants choose to enroll at Stanford. If you are interested in KHS, please apply confidently with the knowledge that your KHS application does not preclude or negatively impact your chances of admission to Stanford.
No, the prompt is intentionally broad so that you may select from a wide range of topics.
No. The video is added to your other required application materials which you submitted to us in October. We select finalists based on the application, the video statement, and verification that you remain competitive for admission to a Stanford graduate degree program.
Barring unforeseen circumstances and/or immediate family obligations, you must attend Immersion Weekend to be considered for selection to Knight-Hennessy Scholars.
If you are selected as a finalist, we will work with you to coordinate a visa invitation letter as necessary. We cannot provide letters of invitation before finalists are selected.
The Stanford degree program(s) conducts its own distinct review and communicates its admission decision to you on its own distinct timeline. Depending on the program, you may receive your Stanford admission decision as early as December or as late as April. Some Knight-Hennessy Scholars finalists will have already been offered admission to their Stanford program(s), while others will still be vying for admission to Stanford.
No, Knight-Hennessy Scholars interviews take place only during designated time periods for finalists.
Other Frequently Asked Questions
To be eligible for graduate study, you must have earned a U.S. bachelor's degree or its equivalent from a college or university of recognized standing. See Stanford's guidelines for minimum level of study. For questions on this policy, contact the Office of Graduate Admissions, not the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program.
In most cases, you are eligible to apply to a graduate program even if you did not study that precise field as an undergraduate; please refer to the graduate degree program’s website for specific information about its requirements.
No. You must complete both your Knight-Hennessy Scholars application AND the entire application process for your graduate degree program(s), including any standardized test that your graduate degree program(s) requires (GMAT, GRE, LSAT, MCAT, etc.) and, if applicable, an English proficiency test (TOEFL; or, for MBA program only, IELTS or PTE). The Stanford graduate degree program application(s) may require a fee. Please visit the graduate program for specific information about its requirements.