There are growing concerns about the validity of Kemi Badenoch’s claim to have been offered admission to study medicine at Stanford University, one of the US’s most prestigious universities, at the age of 16, as admission staff are indicating that this is unlikely, The Guardian reports.
The UK Conservative leader has repeatedly asserted that she received offers of admission and a partial scholarship to pursue medicine at Stanford and other leading US universities, based on her high exam scores.
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During an interview with The Huffington Post in 2017, she mentioned that she had received an invitation to study at Stanford on a partial scholarship but could not accept it because her parents could not afford the tuition fees.
Additional information about the offer was also provided in an interview with the Times in 2024.
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It reads, “At 16, her US SAT scores won her a partial pre-med scholarship to Stanford, but her family still couldn’t afford the place.”
The Conservative Party also claimed Mrs Badenoch had “not applied directly to Stanford but had received a number of offers from US, UK and Nigerian universities, including Stanford, when she received good SAT results.”
However, the Guardian reported on Sunday that several academic experts, former university staff, Ivy League admissions coaches, and even Stanford graduates said it was implausible for a place to be offered proactively based on exam results alone.
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Mrs Badenoch, born to Nigerian parents, studied part-time at Phoenix College, a further education college in Morden, UK, after she left Nigeria.
The Tory leader was raised in Nigeria and the US before returning to England at age 16.
Stanford’s former staff denies claim
According to The Guardian, the Stanford admissions officer at the time of Badenoch’s application, Jon Reider, stated that the school would never offer admission to a student strictly on the basis of their exam results.
Mr Reider said, “O-levels would not have been sufficient, and we would have been very nervous admitting a 16-year-old. She would have had to have an extraordinary record.”
He also indicated that Stanford would not offer a partial scholarship to a 16-year-old, knowing that they would be unable to afford the remaining fees.
Mr Reider stated that Stanford sometimes offers 30 full scholarships per year, as “there was no point in offering them less because they would not have been able to attend.”
“Although 30 years have passed, I would definitely remember if we had admitted a Nigerian student with any financial aid. The answer is that we did not do so,” he further stated.
Mr Reider also stated that, during that period, a few African students were admitted, but none came from Nigeria.
“I assure you that we would not have admitted a student based on test scores alone, nor would we have mailed an invitation to apply to any overseas students based on test scores,” he said.
Another former Stanford admissions officer, Irena Smith, confirmed that the university does not grant admission without a complete application, as reported by The Guardian.
This application process includes multiple essays, letters of recommendation from teachers, and information about the applicant’s activities.
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“Based on my experience, students with high SAT scores might have been encouraged to apply, but would not have received an offer of admission without completing an application.
I have not, however, ever heard of a student being offered a spot at Stanford based on high SAT scores alone, without submitting a full application,” she was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, the university states on its website that it does not offer a medicine major or a health profession to undergraduates.
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