Overview
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS) program cultivates and supports a highly-engaged, multidisciplinary and multicultural community of graduate students from across Stanford University’s graduate programs. KHS delivers a diverse collection of educational experiences, preparing graduates to address complex challenges facing the world.
Leadership Development
Building upon the deep domain expertise that Knight-Hennessy Scholars develop in their home departments, scholars gain exposure to a wide range of disciplines and cultures in the Knight-Hennessy community, and participate in the King Global Leadership Program (KGLP), which is designed to develop transformational leadership capabilities. Within KGLP, scholars collaborate and begin to address important challenges facing the world, such as climate change, healthcare inequity, the future of education, and criminal justice reform.
Through the King Global Leadership Program (KGLP) you will gain a multicultural and multidisciplinary perspective, develop leadership skills and traits, including creative problem solving, decision making during uncertainty, and effective collaboration.
Funding
Knight-Hennessy Scholars receive up to three years of funding to pursue graduate study at Stanford. This includes the JD, MA, MBA, MD, MFA, MS, DMA, and PhD programs, as well as joint- and dual-degrees.
During each of the first three years of graduate study, Knight-Hennessy Scholars receive:
- 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 grant intended to cover an economy-class ticket for one annual trip to and from Stanford
- NOTE: Knight-Hennessy Scholars also may access supplemental funds to support academic enrichment (e.g., conference travel).
More information about funding, including subsequent years of support, is here.
Community
Denning House is the home of the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program. It serves as the convening hub for the community, enabling scholars to learn together, and to share ideas and experiences.
Eligibility
All Knight-Hennessy candidates must:
- Be a graduating senior, or alumni who earned a bachelor’s degree in January 2015 or later.
- Apply to, be accepted by, and enroll in a full-time Stanford graduate degree program. KHS will give priority consideration to those who will spend at least two years studying at Stanford.
Although Knight-Hennessy Scholars perform well academically, KHS has no minimum requirement for your grades or scores. Please consult the Stanford graduate degree program website for their admission requirements including any relevant minimums for grades or scores.
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is a multidisciplinary and multicultural community. There are no restrictions based on age, college or university, field of study, or career aspiration. KHS encourages citizens and residents of all countries to apply.
Selection Criteria
Besides gaining admission to Stanford’s highly competitive graduate programs, a Knight-Hennessy Scholar must also demonstrate the personal and professional qualities that the scholarship program believes signal the capacity to lead social, economic, or environmental change at a global scale, including
- An independent mindset, including a cultivated intellect, creativity and originality, and the ability to navigate ambiguous situations or high-conflict discussions
- Evidence of ambition and leadership potential, including calculated risk-taking, a results orientation and a track record of noteworthy accomplishments, self-awareness, and the coping skills to recover from failures and disappointments
- Sense of civic duty, including humility, respect for difference, and a giving spirit
“As Phil Knight would say, we’re seeking Scholars who can out-think, out-work, and out-care others.” Knight-Hennessy Scholars Dean of Admissions, Derrick Bolton, cites “rebellious minds,” “non-consensus and original thought,” “resilience and determination,” “sense of mission and pursuit,” and “humility and kindness” as traits that reviewers prioritize in the selection process.
More detail is on the Knight-Hennessy Criteria page.
Endorsement is optional
KHS does not require applicants to seek endorsements from colleges, universities, or other institutions. An endorsement is an additional letter from the campus in support of your application. Most KHS applicants do not have an endorsement, but they can be helpful in providing more institutional context to explain your success and add another voice in support of your candidacy.
If you would like to request an endorsement from UNL, you must:
- Follow NIF internal deadlines and guidance for writing a complete KHS Draft 1 and separate Endorsement Request, including a Pre-Endorsement Reflection form;
- Meet with a NIF advisor to discuss your application strategy at least once during your application process, well in advance of the national deadline.
Endorsement is not automatic. NIF advisors have to write a full and detailed letter of recommendation for the endorsement and answer very specific questions about you as a person, including supporting anecdotes. It is necessary for NIF advisors to get to know a student’s personal characteristics and motivations very well to be able to answer the endorsement questions. However, since we have to write and submit the endorsement by the same October deadline as your application materials are due, this cannot be done at the last minute after you finish working — getting to know you deeply must be accomplished while you are preparing your application.
Consider Other Funding Options
With fewer than 100 winners selected annually, the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is among the most competitive in the world, receiving over 6,100 applications for 2020 enrollment.
There are many other options for funding a Stanford education besides Knight-Hennessy Scholars. New Ph.D. students are typically fully-funded for all years of the doctoral program, including the Medical Scientist Training Program for M.D./Ph.D. students. Consult the websites for your graduate programs of interest for specific funding opportunities.
Events
Knight-Hennessy Scholars offers information sessions online and at the Stanford University campus regularly, including:
May 12, 2022 at 7:00 pm Central Time – Online KHS Information Session
May 26, 2022 at 8:00 pm Central Time – Online KHS Information Session
Experience Information
- Website
- knight-hennessy.stanford.edu