Stanford University Knight Hennessy Scholarship for Masters & PhD 2025 – Application Guide

A lot of young people are looking to further their education outside the country, either for a Master’s program or a PhD program. However, because of the high cost of studying in some of the schools available. Most individuals have resulted to seeking-out prestigious schools offering various types of scholarships; Part-time scholarship or Full-time scholarship.

For this article, I will be providing you with details about the Stanford University Knight Hennessy 2025 Masters and PhD Scholarship available to those interested and how to qualify for any of the above listed programs.

Application Guide for Stanford University Knight Hennessy Scholarship

Eligibility Criteria

The Eligibility requirement of Stanford University, helps you to determine if you may apply or not, so you don’t end up wasting your time and going through a process that you weren’t qualified for in the first place.

However, it is necessary to say that the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program is multicultural and multidisciplinary community. There are no restrictions whatsoever on field of study, based on age, career aspiration, college and University. Citizens and residents of all countries are encouraged to apply also, Stanford University does not require its applicants to seek endorsements from any college, University or other institutions.

Below are tow baseline eligibility requirements: 1) As an applicant, you must have earned a U.s Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent from any other college or university of recognized standard in January 2015 or later. 2) Apart from applying to Knight Henessy Scholars you must also apply to be accepted by and register in a full-time Stanford graduate program including one of these but not limited to MD, MPP, MBA, MA, MS, MFA or PhD. There are no quotas by program or discipline here. However, note that applicants who registered to study for at least two years in Stanford will be given higher consideration.

Deadline Dates:

Application for the 2025 session is closed at the moment, however that of 2026 program is still open.

Application 1: Knight Hennessy Scholars Program:

Application for the 2026 session opens on August 1^st, 2025 and closes on October 6^th, 1:00pm Pacific time, the finalist notification will be made on 26^th, 2026, while immersion weekend will be on February 25-26, 2026, then  a decision notification would be made available on 15^th March, 2026.

Below are some of the materials that would be requested from you by Deadline: Background Information, Resume, Transcripts, Recommendation letters, Short answers and Essay.

Other materials requested for only on Invitation: Video (by invitation on rolling basis) and Immersion Weekend (only by invitation only).

There are programs not accepted for the Knight Scholars Program: Current PhD students of the school including an MS or MA degree I their current discipline, those applying for Master of Liberal Arts, those applying for Doctor of Science of Law (JSD), Honors Cooperative program e.t.c

About test scores:  The Scholars program here follows the practice of your graduate degree program. If the program doesn’t require standardized tests, then you wouldn’t be required to submit any with your application for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars program.

Application 2: Stanford Graduate Program/programs:

As part of the eligibility criteria as stated earlier on, apart from applying to Knight Hennessy Scholars you must also apply to be accepted by and register in a full-time Stanford graduate program. Except in a condition where you have previously deferred your admission to Stanford graduate program it is imperative that to you apply to your respective Stanford graduate program(s) on or before the deadline below.

For SPILS/LLM/JD and MD applicants: It is important that you follow the deadline displayed on this table, as this is the date when Stanford University must receive your complete application materials. It is also advised that you send in your application well before the posted deadline.

For more information visit: Stanford University Knight-Hennessy Scholars website.