Hello everyone, welcome
and thank you for your interest
in Stanford University's new initiative,
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program.
This is Ari Chasnoff from the Knight-Hennessy Scholars team
and in this video, I'll give you an overview
of our admission process.
For details on our eligibility requirements
and what we look for in candidates,
visit our website at the URL listed
at the bottom of this screen.
First of all, and most important,
to become a Knight-Hennessy scholar,
you need to complete two separate applications.
There's one application
for the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program
and I'll tell you more about that application momentarily.
The other application is for the graduate program
that you wish to pursue at Stanford
and that is focused on the criteria
of that specific program.
There are two different applications
and two different deadlines.
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars application
is due September 12th at 1 p.m. Pacific Time.
The Stanford Graduate Program will in general
be due on November 14th.
There will be a few exceptions.
Some programs like the MD, MBA, Physician Assistant
and Management Science and Engineering Master's programs,
for example, have earlier deadlines,
so be sure to check with the program that interests you
to ensure that you submit the application on time.
So what do we ask for
in the Knight-Hennessy Scholars application?
Well first, there's the basic biographical
and demographic information.
The online application has no fee
but we do ask you for information about your background,
the way that you've spent your time in college,
out of college, in the workplace
and outside the workplace.
We ask you for a one-page resume.
This is a one-page, curated overview
of experiences, professional, academic
and personal experiences.
The resume lets you provide context
for the team that's going to be looking at your application.
Of course, it's going to overlap
somewhat with your application.
You'll have information about your academic history
on the resume that'll be more extensive
information about that in the application.
You'll have information about your professional experiences
on the resume and more details about that
in the application.
That's normal.
The resume introduces the rest of the application.
The resume is a way for you to frame the story
that we'll be learning about you
as we move through your application.
Next, transcripts.
We'll ask you for undergraduate and graduate transcripts
if you have graduate transcripts.
You do not need official transcripts
for your Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program application.
You will however need those
for your graduate program application.
When assessing candidates, we really don't go
course by course and grade by grade.
We look more broadly for trends in performance.
We try to understand the opportunities you've had
and how you took advantage of those.
And we tend to be more forgiving of a slow start
to college than of a slow finish in college.
Test results.
If you're applying to one of the professional schools,
Medicine, Law or Business, it's pretty straightforward.
The MD Program requires the MCAT.
The JD Program requires the LSAT.
The MBA Program requires the GMAT or the GRE.
If you're applying to any other
graduate program at Stanford, however,
a PhD in History, a PhD in Mechanical Engineering,
then the test policy's a school-level decision.
For example, The School of Earth Sciences,
The School of Education, The School of Engineering,
The School of Humanities and Sciences
each decides whether to require GRE scores,
whether to recommend them,
whether to simply accept them
or whether not to accept them at all.
As a result, you'll need to look department by department
for the specific requirements of the programs
that interest you.
That information should be posted to the program websites
by mid-September at the latest.
The Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program will follow
whatever the department is asking for.
If the department you are interested in
doesn't accept scores, we don't want them either.
If the department recommends them and you're submitting
them to the department, great.
Also send them to us.
For English proficiency, you need results of the TOEFL,
unless you have a degree from an institution
at which English is the official
and sole language of instruction.
This waiver is not based on citizenship,
where you live or work experience.
This waiver is based on you having earned
an undergraduate or a graduate degree
from a university with English language instruction.
Let's talk timing.
You don't have to have these scores by the time you apply
to The Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program on September 12th.
You need these scores by the time you apply
to your graduate degree program.
And at that point, if you've already submitted
your application, there will be a way
for you to update the scores.
All of the application requirements I just mentioned
are really the data.
We'll spend much more time on the context
and we get that context from stories.
Stories about you that other people tell us,
which are the recommendation letters
and stories about you that you tell us,
which are your essays and video.
We ask you for two recommendation letters.
We're not focused on the title of the person who wrote it
or his or her affiliation with Stanford.
We're looking at the text of the letter.
What does the letter tell us about you?
What makes a great letter?
Details, evidence, anecdotes,
examples that really help to bring you to life,
that help us understand not only the things
that you've done but also how you did those things.
The graduate degree program to which you're applying
also is going to ask for recommendation letters.
How do you think about those letters?
Well, it's perfectly fine to have the same person
submit letters for both the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program
and for the graduate program,
but they should be separate distinct letters
because as you think of the criteria,
as you think of the things
that the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program is looking for
and the things your academic program is looking for,
they're very different and the letters should reflect that.
The application for your graduate degree program
needs to stand on its own.
It should address only and solely
what that graduate degree program is looking for
and the Knight-Hennessy Scholars application
has to stand on its own.
Besides recommendation letters, we're looking at essays.
Essays are stories that you're telling us.
They complement the stories that others have told us
about you in the recommendation letters.
There are two questions.
The essay questions are focused
on your past and your future.
We're trying to get a sense of how you've evolved
into the person you are today
and of the person you aspire to become.
And of course, the implication is there is a gap
between where you are today
and where you aspire to go,
and you're trying to bridge that gap
through the relationship and experiences
and exposure and education
that you would get at Stanford.
So specifically the two questions are,
number one, connect the dots.
Tell us how the influences in your life have shaped you.
How will your Stanford education
and your Knight-Hennessy Scholars experience support this?
Your goal here should be to do some structured reflection
on who you are, on your values,
your ideals, your choices and your potential.
Then the byproduct of that process is the essay
that you turn in to us.
Our best advice is the simplest advice, which is,
answer the question.
It's really easy as you're writing essays
to get so focused on what you think we need to know
that you don't actually tell us the thing
we've asked you.
Our rule of thumb is, if you're learning about yourself
from writing the essays, there's a really good chance
we are learning about you from reading them.
There aren't shortcuts that you can take
and still do a good job.
And also keep in mind that you don't need
some earth-shattering accomplishment or experience
to be a strong candidate.
Most of our scholars have succeeded by doing ordinary things
but they've done them extraordinarily well.
There are two short answer questions as well.
We'll ask you for three short term goals
that you've worked toward
and no, applying to Stanford
or being selected as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar
can't be one of those goals.
Second, we ask you about eight improbable facts.
Eight things about you that are true but unlikely.
Things we might not learn if we spoke to you
for only 10 or 15 minutes
but that are indeed true.
Finally, the video.
The video's no more than two minutes in length.
There's zero focus on production value.
It's not about special effects or backgrounds
or things like that.
We really just want you to have a chance to be heard.
We want to have a chance to meet you.
If we could meet every single applicant in person,
that's the process we'd design,
but it's just not feasible.
The prompt for this year is straightforward.
It's Teach Us Something.
Teach something to your cohort
of fellow Knight-Hennessy Scholars
and that could be a family recipe,
that could be something you learn on a team,
that could be something you've discovered in a research lab.
It could be something you've gleaned about yourself
but take the couple of minutes to help teach something
to your fellow scholars.
And when you think about all the things
that I just talked about,
the online application, the resume,
the transcripts, the test scores,
the recommendations, the essays, the video,
that's a lot of information about one person.
We will integrate all of that
and review your application holistically.
As we read your application, we are looking for strengths.
Each person reading your application gets to make a case
for why you would be a great Knight-Hennessy Scholar.
You are helping us through your application
to see the potential that you have
and to make a case for why you'd be terrific
in this program.
Finally, with feedback from the graduate degree programs,
we will invite a subset of applicants to Immersion Weekend.
We are planning to select a cohort
of up to 75 scholars for the cohort entering in 2019
and up to 100 scholars for future years.
As such, we plan to invite 125 to 150 students
to Immersion Weekend for the 2018-2019 cycle.
And then around 200 for Immersion Weekend in future years.
Immersion Weekend is our chance to meet, in person,
the applicants that we've only read about.
We really think of it as a two-way conversation.
While we're learning more about you,
while you are also learning more about Stanford,
the Knight-Hennessy Scholars Program
and your specific degree program.
Immersion Weekend is the culmination
of the admission process.
We designed it to be informal and informative
and Stanford pays for your airfare and lodging.
The overall experience comprises a chance
to connect with scholars and hear from faculty.
You'll participate in individual and group exercises.
Most of Immersion Weekend is social
and educational in nature
and again, intended to give you a preview
of what your life would be like
as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar.
There are also evaluative pieces.
You'll have an interview, for example.
The 2018-2019 Immersion Weekend will take place
February 8th through 10th.
We'll be able to notify the finalists,
whether you've been selected as scholars
by mid-February of 2019.
I hope this has been helpful.
You can find comprehensive information
about the application process on our website
at kh.stanford.edu.
You can also contact us by email or phone.
Thank you for watching.