Knight Scholarship Program

Lester B. Knight believed that leaders in the engineering profession require a strong foundation in business, and that leaders in business benefit from a strong foundation in engineering.

Lester B. Knight M.Eng./MBA Scholarship

The Lester B. Knight Scholarship is designed to assist and encourage top students to earn M.Eng. and MBA degrees at Cornell. The scholarship is the result of a generous gift by Mr. Knight and the continuing support of his family.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Knight Scholarship, an applicant should be either:

  1. Entering into an eligible* Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) degree program

    or

  2. A Cornell M.Eng. graduate entering into an MBA degree program at the Cornell Johnson Graduate School of Management

* Applicants admitted to the Computer Science M.Eng. program offered by the Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and the Biological and Environmental Engineering M.Eng. program offered by the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are not eligible for these awards.

Award

Knight Scholarships may provide as much as $60,000. Knight Scholars receive a $15,000 tuition award per semester for up to two semesters while enrolled as graduate students in the M.Eng. degree program and a $15,000 tuition award per semester for up to two semesters while enrolled in an MBA degree program at Cornell. Students entering the M.Eng. Degree program with Knight Scholarships may apply to the Johnson School up to five years after M.Eng. graduation and retain the MBA portion of their Knight scholarships.

International students are eligible to apply for this award.

Application deadline

The application deadline is February 1, 11:59 p.m. Admitted applicants will receive a notification about their award together with, or soon after, their offer of admission.

Late applications will not be considered. Awards are not made retroactively, i.e. after the student has paid the tuition fee for the semester.

Application process

To be considered, students need to complete an online application for admission, write a 500-word essay and submit a one-page resume. The essay should describe experiences that motivated you to pursue engineering and business, student's interests and achievements, and his/her future career goals.

  1. For M.Eng. applicants, the Knight Scholarship application is part of the M.Eng. online application for admission.

    or

  2. MBA applicants who will be M.Eng. graduates by the time they enroll in the Johnson School, should fill out the MBA Online Application for Admission. They should also complete the Knight Scholarship Application Form (PDF) and submit it along with their essay and resume to engr_grad at cornell dot edu.

Cornell Engineering and the Johnson School each make their admission decisions independently, but the scholarship decision is made jointly by both colleges.

Contact Us

We are happy to answer your questions!

meng-programs@cornell.edu

Join our Mailing List

Join our Mailing List

Ask a Student Ambassador

M.Eng. Ambassadors are available to answer non-application questions about why they chose Cornell, what classes they are taking, their M.Eng. project, their job search process, how they like Cornell and Ithaca, and related non-application questions. Admissions-related questions (such as acceptance criteria, application, etc.) should be directed to the appropriate staff of each M.Eng. program. Student Ambassadors are only available for email correspondence between September 1 and May 20 each year.

M.Eng. Student Ambassador Contact Form