[81alum]

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Yes, lord knows we would have loved to have Ki back last season. That said, remember that for most SAs set to graduate in 4 years, they typically need to get into a graduate program to exercise a fifth year. For example, on the men's side, we recently learned that two SAs who didn't take their COVID 5th year at Stanford -- Oscar da Silva, who went to play pro abroad, and Daejon Davis, who grad transferred to UW -- couldn't get into a grad program at Stanford. So I think the COVID 5th year is not necessarily a gimme on the Farm.

Absolutely correct.

Also keep in mind that admissions in MBB and Football has already compromised its academic standards, while getting into a Stanford grad program is based purely on the academic standards for that program.  This may be why female athletes seem to do better than some male athletes in getting into Stanford graduate programs.  A "B" average and a lot of extracurriculars won't cut it.  Furthermore, you have to plan in advance to be sure your undergraduate major is preparing you for that graduate program.  And the vast majority of our grad programs are more than one year in length.

Not every Stanford student, let alone every Stanford athlete, has what is needed at the time of graduation to go into one of the "big three" (90%+ of Stanford graduate degrees): law, medicine, business--not that any of them could be completed during a 5th year of eligibility.  (Kate Paye is amazing--both an MBA and a JD from her alma mater, but of course she was focused on her studies at that point and not on a fifth year of basketball.)  Similarly, no 5th year player is going to enroll in a 4-5 year doctoral program in order to play basketball for one year. 

So that leaves the tiny number of stand-alone MA or MS degrees.  Most departments that offer PhDs do not admit students for the purpose of earning a Master's any longer.  So only if your undergraduate department happens to offer a stand-alone MA or MS are you set up for an easy transition.  For Anna Wilson, an MFA was a logical continuance of her undergraduate major--and that program is quite competitive to get into, so kudos for her.  For Mikaela Ruef it was engineering--again after fabulous success with the undergraduate major.  

So what MA programs are there at Stanford that are not super-selective and that will admit students with a variety of different academic backgrounds?  Very very few.  You can explore the options here.  Communications is probably a popular option.  The MLS won't work since it is a part-time 4 year program held only at night.
https://applygrad.stanford.edu/portal/programs

[81alum]

.
Yes, lord knows we would have loved to have Ki back last season. That said, remember that for most SAs set to graduate in 4 years, they typically need to get into a graduate program to exercise a fifth year. For example, on the men's side, we recently learned that two SAs who didn't take their COVID 5th year at Stanford -- Oscar da Silva, who went to play pro abroad, and Daejon Davis, who grad transferred to UW -- couldn't get into a grad program at Stanford. So I think the COVID 5th year is not necessarily a gimme on the Farm.

Absolutely correct.

Also keep in mind that admissions in MBB and Football has already compromised its academic standards, while getting into a Stanford grad program is based purely on the academic standards for that program.  This may be why female athletes seem to do better than some male athletes in getting into Stanford graduate programs.  A "B" average and a lot of extracurriculars won't cut it.  Furthermore, you have to plan in advance to be sure your undergraduate major is preparing you for that graduate program.  And the vast majority of our grad programs are more than one year in length.

Not every Stanford student, let alone every Stanford athlete, has what is needed at the time of graduation to go into one of the "big three" (90%+ of Stanford graduate degrees): law, medicine, business--not that any of them could be completed during a 5th year of eligibility.  (Kate Paye is amazing--both an MBA and a JD from her alma mater, but of course she was focused on her studies at that point and not on a fifth year of basketball.)  Similarly, no 5th year player is going to enroll in a 4-5 year doctoral program in order to play basketball for one year. 

So that leaves the tiny number of stand-alone MA or MS degrees.  Most departments that offer PhDs do not admit students for the purpose of earning a Master's any longer.  So only if your undergraduate department happens to offer a stand-alone MA or MS are you set up for an easy transition.  For Anna Wilson, an MFA was a logical continuance of her undergraduate major--and that program is quite competitive to get into, so kudos for her.  For Mikaela Ruef it was engineering--again after fabulous success with the undergraduate major.  

So what MA programs are there at Stanford that are not super-selective and that will admit students with a variety of different academic backgrounds?  Very very few.  You can explore the options here.  Communications is probably a popular option.  The MLS won't work since it is a part-time 4 year program held only at night.
https://applygrad.stanford.edu/portal/programs