Application Deadline: October 8, 2025, 1:00pm Pacific Time
LOCATION: USA
All Knight-Hennessy scholars apply and are selected for admission. Applying to Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS) is not simply checking off a list of requirements. There is no formula for admission, and there are no scores, achievements, or stories that automatically qualify you for admission. Instead, the KHS application is an invitation to show how you demonstrate our criteria in ways that are unique and distinct to you.
ELIGIBILITY:
Knight-Hennessy Scholars has no restrictions based on age, college or university, field of study, or career aspiration. We encourage citizens and residents of all countries to apply. We do not require applicants to seek endorsements from colleges, universities, or other institutions. Additionally, there are no quotas by discipline, program, or world region.
First, in addition to applying to Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS), you must apply to, be accepted by, and enroll in a full-time Stanford graduate degree program including, but not limited to, DMA, JD, MA, MBA, MD, MFA, MPP, MS, or PhD programs. You must meet at least one of the following four conditions:
You are applying separately but concurrently to KHS and a full-time Stanford graduate degree program such that you will start both in the same year.
You have already been offered and deferred admission to a full-time Stanford graduate degree program, and will apply to KHS such that you will start both in the same year.
You are a current Stanford graduate student who will apply to add a second full-time Stanford graduate degree program, such that you will start both KHS and the new program in the same year.
You are a current Stanford PhD student in your first year of enrollment, and will apply to KHS such that you will start KHS in your second year of PhD enrollment.
Please note that the following Stanford graduate degree programs are not eligible for Knight-Hennessy Scholars:
Applicants to the Honors Cooperative Program
Applicants to the Master of Liberal Arts
Applicants to the Doctor of Science of Law (JSD) and the Master of Legal Studies (MLS)
Current Stanford students pursuing coterminal graduate study
Current Stanford PhD students adding an MA or MS degree in their current discipline
BENEFIT:
Knight-Hennessy scholars receive funding for up to three years for any graduate degree(s) at Stanford. This funding applies to the degree(s) to which scholars are preparing to enroll at the time of scholar selection.
During each of the first three years of graduate study, Knight-Hennessy scholars receive several types of funding:
A fellowship applied directly to cover tuition and associated fees
A stipend for living and academic expenses (such as room and board, books, academic supplies, instructional materials, local transportation, and reasonable personal expenses)
A travel stipend intended to cover an economy-class ticket for one annual trip to and from Stanford
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