Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is facing renewed scrutiny over her long-standing claim that she was offered a place and a partial scholarship to study medicine at Stanford University at the age of 16. The story, repeated in multiple interviews and biographies, is now being challenged by former Stanford admissions officers and academic experts, who say such an offer would have been impossible under US admissions rules. The WP Times reports this, citing The Guardian.

Questions Over Stanford’s Admission Process

Badenoch has often said she received an early offer to study medicine or “pre-med” at Stanford. Yet Stanford does not admit students directly into medical programmes, which are offered only at graduate level. According to the university’s own website, there is no pre-med degree, only undergraduate majors that can serve as preparation for later medical studies.

Academic experts say that the account conflicts with the U.S. admissions system, where no student can be admitted to medical school straight from high school, even with exceptional results.

Testimony From Former Stanford Officials

Jon Reider, Stanford’s admissions officer for international students in the 1990s, said he would have been directly responsible for such an application. He firmly denied that Badenoch had ever been admitted:

“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.”

Reider added that O-levels would not have been sufficient, and that admitting a 16-year-old without an extraordinary record would have been highly unlikely. He also dismissed the idea of offering partial scholarships that families could not realistically afford.

Conflicting Accounts Over “Pre-Med Scholarship”

Badenoch’s claim has appeared in multiple outlets. In a 2017 interview with the Huffington Post, she said she had gained admission to Stanford “pre-med.” The Times reported in 2024 that her SAT results won her a partial scholarship. The Spectator in 2020 and Lord Ashcroft’s biography in 2024 repeated the same story.

But former Stanford admissions officer Irena Smith explained that SAT scores alone could never result in an offer:

“Students with high SAT scores might have been encouraged to apply, but would not have received an offer of admission without completing a full application, which would include teacher recommendations and essays.”

Political Repercussions

The timing of the controversy is particularly sensitive. Badenoch is considered a rising star in the Conservative Party and frequently mentioned as a potential future prime minister. Critics argue that doubts about her personal narrative could damage her credibility at a moment when political trust is already fragile.

The Liberal Democrats have called on Badenoch to clarify the full story. A party spokesperson said: “Kemi Badenoch spent months asking questions of the chancellor regarding her CV. It’s now time for her to answer some of her own.”

A Conservative spokesperson said that Badenoch had received “offers” from several US, UK, and Nigerian universities after high SAT results, but had not directly applied to Stanford.

They added: “Nearly 30 years ago, and aged 16, Kemi was offered a part-scholarship at Stanford that her parents couldn’t afford to take up. Given her subsequent degrees in both engineering and law are a matter of public record, she questions the hysterical efforts to disprove this.”

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