In the first round, Szent-Györgyi Students who have received a certificate are most likely to be admitted to the PhD program of the Academy. In the longer term, the goal of the NASE is for these students to be automatically admitted to the doctoral schools of the universities. The remaining places are advertised by the NASE and filled via an application process. An applicant coming from outside the NASE program may join the scholarship system if they have published at least 2 articles in journals belonging to the top 25% of the given scientific field (in one of which they must be the first author). Students who enter the school at this level are no longer under „publication pressure” since they already meet the PhD conditions upon admission. For this reason, they can join a major, relatively long-term project which may take several years to complete. At this stage, Szent-Györgyi Students can focus on high-quality research that is exceptional, even by international standards, and also particularly beneficial to the laboratory.
The researcher must attend at least one international conference a year, and both Mentor and Student must submit a report at the end of the year. At the end of each year, the scientific supervisors along with the Board of Trustees decide whether
the PhD student will retain their scholarship in the following year.