Fellowships and Scholarships

Rhodes Scholarships

Overview

The Rhodes Scholarships, the oldest international fellowship, were initiated in 1903, and now bring outstanding students from nineteen countries and five continents to the University of Oxford.

Intellectual distinction is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for election to a Rhodes Scholarship. Selection committees are charged to seek excellence in qualities of mind and qualities of person, which, in combination, offer the promise of effective service to the world in the decades ahead. The Rhodes Scholarships, in short, are investments in individuals rather than in project proposals. Accordingly, applications are sought from talented students without restriction as to their field of academic specialization or career plans. Through the years, Rhodes Scholars have pursued studies in all of the varied fields available in the University of Oxford.

The Rhodes Scholarships owe their origin to the vision expressed in the will of Cecil J. Rhodes, British colonial pioneer and statesman who died on March 26, 1902. He dreamed of bettering the lot of humankind through the diffusion of leaders motivated to serve their contemporaries, trained in the contemplative life of the mind, and broadened by their acquaintance with one another and by their exposure to cultures different from their own. Rhodes hoped that his plan of bringing able students from throughout the English-speaking world and beyond to study at the University where he took his degree in 1881 would aid in the promotion of international understanding and peace. Dedicated alumnus though he was, he was not moved by sentimental loyalty to designate Oxford as the University he wished his Scholars to attend. Rhodes believed that, in addition to its eminence in the world of learning, Oxford University, with its emphasis on individualized instruction and on the community life provided by residential colleges, offered an environment highly congenial to personal and intellectual development.

Cecil Rhodes named nine beneficiary countries in his will, and since 1904, other countries have been added to the list. In 1976, the scope of the Rhodes Scholarship program was further extended when legal changes in the United Kingdom permitted the Rhodes Trust to open the competition to women.

The United States--with an annual authorization of 32 Rhodes Scholars--provides the largest of the national delegations, but the American contingent forms only a minority of the total. In Oxford, Americans are joined by Rhodes Scholars elected from Australia, Bermuda, Canada, Commonwealth Caribbean, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. In a typical term, some 230 Rhodes Scholars are in residence at Oxford. Each of these locations have their own competition. Citizens of these locations should contact the Boston University Office of Fellowships about the application process specific to their nationality.

Though some aspects of the structure of the Rhodes Scholarships have been modified from time to time, Cecil Rhodes’ basic purposes have been maintained. Rhodes wanted the administrators of his will to seek out those qualities of excellence in young people which would contribute to "the world’s fight." He specifically directed that no candidate for a Scholarship should be qualified or disqualified on account of race or religious opinions.

Rhodes wished his Scholars to benefit from education at Oxford and to return, enriched by their experience, to contribute to careers in their home countries, without losing the affection for the United Kingdom which he believed that experience would nurture. The Scholarships are for this reason best seen as long-term investments in the growth of promising young persons and in the encouragement of relationships among English-speaking peoples.

Eligibility

In the United States, applicants for Rhodes Scholarships must be U.S. citizens, aged eighteen or over but not yet twenty-four on October 1 in the year of application. They must also have academic standing sufficient to assure completion of a Bachelor’s degree before going into residence in Oxford the following October in the event of election to a Scholarship. Marriage is permitted, but no allowance is made for the spouse’s expenses.

Applicants are eligible to enter the competition either in the state in which they are legally resident or in the state in which they have received two or more years of college or university training. In cases where an applicant may be uncertain about his or her legal residency, such indicia as the address on the applicant’s driver’s license, where the applicant votes, the address from which Federal and state taxes are filed, and continuous residence will be relied upon by the Committees. An applicant who has already graduated from college will be permitted to apply either from the state in which he or she received a degree or from the state in which he or she was legally resident on April 15^th of the year in which the application is filed; such persons are not eligible to apply from places to which they have recently moved. The Committees of Selection are responsible for ascertaining legal residence of all applicants, and they are authorized to reject the application of any person who is unable to establish legal residency in the state.

Criteria

The criteria which Rhodes set forth in his will still guide Committees of Selection in their assessment of applicants. The will contains four standards by which prospective Rhodes Scholars should be judged:

• literary and scholastic attainments;
• fondness for and success in sports;
• truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship; and
• moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings.

Underlying these standards is the aim that Scholars be physically, intellectually, and morally capable of leadership, persons who will, in Rhode’s phrase, "consider the performance of public duties as their highest aim." From this statement, one may infer that Rhodes expected his Scholars to play an influential part in the betterment of society, wherever their careers might lead them.

Much of the distinctiveness of the Rhodes Scholarships stems from this comprehensive set of criteria. Intellectual excellence is obviously required, but not in isolation from other qualities. Rhodes sought Scholars who were more than "mere bookworms"; he wanted their intellectual talents to be combined with concern for others. Thus, the Selection Committees assign the highest importance to this blend of character with intellect.

Because Rhodes Scholars are selected for their potential over a lifetime, importance is properly attached to their capacity to meet the demands for physical fitness imposed by an active career. Satisfying the second standard does not require evidence of outstanding achievement in varsity sports. All applicants, however, should be able to demonstrate the physical vigor which will enable them to make an effective contribution to the world around them. Moreover, American and other foreign students who are prepared to participate in sports played in the English amateur tradition have typically derived additional benefits from their Oxford experience. Many lifetime international friendships have been formed as by-products of the athletic competition among Oxford’s colleges.

Application Process

To apply, please submit a completed application, available on the Rhodes Scholarship website to the Office of the Provost One Sherborn Street, Boston, MA 02215, Att: Boston University Rhodes, Marshall and Mitchell Committee. Late or incomplete applications will not be accepted. The Committee will invite finalists for interview and recommend candidates to the President for endorsement by the University. Only applicants endorsed by the University will be invited to apply to the state competitions. If endorsed by the University, candidates will be supplied with official applications which should be submitted directly to the state secretaries as early as possible before the deadline.

In addition to securing the formal endorsement of Boston University, applicants are required to provide the names and full addresses of at least five and no more than eight persons who have agreed to write letters of recommendation. No fewer than four of these must be persons under whom the applicant has done academic work at Boston University. Committees of Selection also welcome letters from persons competent to comment on aspects of the applicant’s character and interests as revealed in non-academic activities. The applicant is personally responsible for insuring that the individuals named as referees receive reproductions of the information form for referees which is provided as part of the application package. No letter of recommendation submitted directly by the applicant will be considered. Nor are the "prepackaged" letters of recommendation sometimes filed by faculty members or pre-law and pre-med deans on behalf of students suitable for this purpose. Referees are asked to measure the applicant against the full range of the Rhodes Scholarship criteria and not speak solely to those attributes which would, for example, be relevant to the evaluation of a student’s acceptability to Oxford University.

The annual task of identifying the 32 American students who best satisfy these multiple criteria is assigned to Selection Committees dispersed throughout the country. In each of the fifty states, a Committee of Selection is authorized to consider applications from applicants who maintain their legal residence within that state or have attended a college or university in the state for at least two years. State Committees are entitled to nominate between one to three candidates, depending on the size of their application pools, to appear before a District Committee of Selection. Each of the eight District Committees, in turn, are empowered to designate four candidates from the group of twelve to fifteen District finalists as Rhodes Scholars-elect. The State and District Committees of Selection meet annually in December.

Committees of Selection have available to them a substantial body of materials pertaining to the strengths of each of the applicants (e.g., academic transcripts, a brief essay prepared by the applicant, letters from persons suggested by the applicant). To identify those best qualified from a group of able competitors, the mandatory personal interview plays a decisive role. In this setting, Committee members can gain a fuller measure of the relative strengths of applicants than the written record alone can usually supply. At the same time, the interview affords applicants the opportunity to display their strengths to their best advantage. In states where the applicant group is large, Selection Committees are obliged to limit invitations to those applicants whose credentials are the most outstanding. No applicant can be elected to a Rhodes Scholarship without being interviewed by a State and District Committee of Selection. Applicants must pay their own expenses in appearing before State Committees, and the Rhodes Trust will pay the transportation costs (but not hotel expenses) of candidates who are nominated by State Committees to the District Committees of Selection. The Boston University Office of Fellowships may be able to offer financial assistance to help candidates with the costs associated with interviews.

As the Rhodes Scholarship competition is open to applicants without restriction to their fields of interest, Committees are structured to bring a variety of perspectives to the process of evaluation. Typically, some selectors are from academic life and some from professional life in law, government service, business, medicine, or journalism. At least one member will have a particular interest in an aspect of science. Many Committee members will themselves have been Rhodes Scholars with first-hand acquaintance with the demands of Oxford, but at least one (and always the Committee chair) will be from outside the community of Rhodes Scholars.

After the eight District Committees have identified the year’s Rhodes Scholars-elect, the Rhodes Scholarship authorities seek places for them in Oxford colleges. Because the Oxford colleges make their own decisions on admissions, election to a Rhodes Scholarship does not automatically guarantee entry to Oxford. Election to a Rhodes Scholarship is formally confirmed by the Rhodes Trust only after the Rhodes Scholar-elect has been accepted by an Oxford college. Two samples of recent written work, approximately 2,000 words each, are required for college placement in addition to materials submitted as part of the application. Rhodes Scholars enter Oxford University in October of the year following election. Deferment of the Scholarship cannot be granted, and Scholars are expected to be full-time students at Oxford for the duration of their degree programs.

Candidates are advised to begin preparing their applications well in advance of the September deadline. Gathering some of the documents requested may take some time. Most particularly, applicants should give careful thought to the preparation of their essay. This statement is especially helpful to Committees.

Award Value and Conditions

Rhodes Scholars are appointed for two years of study in the University of Oxford, with the possibility of renewal for a third year. All educational costs (such as matriculation, tuition, laboratory, and certain other fees) are paid on the Scholar’s behalf by the Rhodes Trust. Each Scholar receives, in addition, a maintenance allowance adequate to meet necessary expenses for term-time and vacations. The Rhodes Trust also covers the necessary costs of travel to and from Oxford.

The University of Oxford

The University of Oxford had its beginnings in the latter years of the twelfth century. The first college was founded in 1249 as a residence for scholars attending the lectures of the learned men who had been gathering there for several decades. Today, Oxford University has thirty-nine self-governing colleges, which are responsible for the admission of students, for undergraduate courses, and for undergraduate instruction. These colleges are residential, so that Rhodes Scholars become members of the colleges and in most cases live in college rooms. Typically, Oxford’s colleges are not specialized by subject area. With a few exceptions, each is prepared to admit students to pursue any of the fields of study available in the University and to prepare them for degrees at all levels.

As an ancient university, Oxford has extensive and impressive academic and aesthetic resources. The architecture of the colleges are renowned for their history, variety, and beauty, and Oxford has become one of the prime tourist attractions in the world. Its scholarly resources place it in the first rank of international research universities. The Bodleian Library, a copyright deposit library since 1610 (publishers of books copyrighted in the United Kingdom must give a copy of each book to each of the six copyright deposit libraries in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland), incorporates extensive collections of manuscripts, books, and periodicals. Other scholarly and artistic resources will be found in the Ashmolean Museum, the University Museum, and smaller specialized museums, as well as in the libraries and art collections of individual colleges. Many of these collections contain priceless treasures accumulated over the centuries.

The system of education at Oxford has two notable characteristics which significantly differentiate its program from those offered by almost all American universities and colleges. Students wishing to read for the Bachelor of Arts degree in one of the Final Honours Schools, which roughly correspond to American academic departments, will be taught in small sessions with a tutor or tutors in his or her college, or, as may be appropriate, by a tutor who is a specialist in the field in another college. This approach to learning requires the student to prepare one or two essays each week which the student reads to the college tutor, who will then discuss the essay in order to probe and refine the student’s understanding of the assigned topic. This intellectual exchange accords each student an extraordinary amount of personalized attention. In addition, the student will have available a wide array of lectures given by resident and visiting scholars and, in certain subjects, classes and laboratory exercises. In many subjects, attendance at lectures is voluntary, but both those who seek an acquaintance with an area of knowledge far removed from their own specialties and those who wish to supplement their tutorial studies can find these lectures useful.

Oxford University’s approach to learning is influenced perhaps as much by the examination system as by the pattern of tutorials and lectures. Unlike the practices followed by almost all American institutions of higher learning, Oxford University has long insisted on a divorce between teaching and examining. While the former function is performed primarily by the body of college Fellows, the latter is performed by the University Board of Examiners with whom students have not studied at first hand. This arrangement contributes to the development of a sense of partnership between student and tutor. The challenge to the student is to master a body of material and to demonstrate abilities in analyzing it; the challenge to the tutor is to nurture the student’s powers to do so. Colleges take great pride in the successful performance of their students before the external examiners.

While students in Oxford have the resources of a great international university to aid them in their intellectual growth, Cardinal Newman’s observation more than a century ago that Oxford is a place where students "educate themselves" remains true today. Collegiate life is structured to provide an environment hospitable to that activity. The common room and the buttery provide informal gathering points to encourage what Hume called "that liberty and facility of thought and expression which can only be acquired by conversation." The student common rooms in the colleges enrich student life through their sponsorship of a variety of activities ranging from debating societies to dramatic and musical groups, and they promote a wide range of athletic competitions. Most colleges have sports grounds nearby which offer playing fields for soccer, rugby, cricket, and field hockey, as well as tennis courts. College boat houses on the Thames River (locally known as the "Isis") support major rowing competitions among the colleges. Athletes who are selected to represent Oxford University against Cambridge University are awarded the recognition of a "Blue," the equivalent of an American varsity letter.

The academic year in Oxford is divided into three terms that are eight weeks long. Terms are interrupted by six-week vacations in mid-winter and spring and by the "long vacation," which stretches from late June to early October. During these vacations, however, undergraduate students are expected to maintain their academic work at least by undertaking, as the University’s Undergraduate Prospectus puts it, "the wider, more leisurely reading which is essential to all courses." The pace of work for graduate students continues throughout the year.

The Oxford degree programs fall into three general categories: the undergraduate course, advanced degrees by coursework and examination, and advanced degrees by research and examination. The first, in which most Oxford students are engaged, is the undergraduate course which leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree with Honours. This degree ordinarily requires a minimum residency of three years, but the University awards Senior Status to students who have completed a Bachelor’s degree before their arrival to Oxford. (Completion of a Bachelor’s degree is required for application for a Rhodes Scholarship.) Senior Status entitles them, in most cases, to fulfill the requirements of an undergraduate degree in two academic years. Courses leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree are offered in the chief academic disciplines, and a number of joint programs provide courses of study combining work in two or more academic fields. Details about the requirements for these courses of study are published annually in the Undergraduate Prospectus. Successful completion of the series of externally administered examinations in the sixth term of Oxford residence qualifies a student for the BA degree; holders of the Bachelors of Arts degree from Oxford are entitled to receive a Master of Arts degree without further examination toward the end of the seventh academic year from the date of their matriculation in the University.

Advanced degrees are of two kinds: degrees taught in graduate courses and research degrees. No degree is awarded on the basis of the accumulation of credits, and progress toward either type of advanced degree depends heavily on individual student initiative. Various programs include classes, seminars and sometimes tutorials, and always a supervisor, but graduate work at Oxford relies fundamentally on a students ability to work independently to good effect.

Advanced degrees which are obtained by coursework and examination include the Master of Studies degree, the Master or Bachelor of Philosophy degree, the Master of Science degree by coursework, the Master of Business Administration, and the Master of Law (Magister Juris) degree. Degrees which are obtained by research and an examination based upon the candidate’s thesis include the Master of Letters degree, the Master of Science degree by research, and the Doctor of Philosophy degree. The University also offers other degrees by examination, including the Bachelor of Civil Law degree.

In recent years, the Master of Philosophy has been the most popular of the advanced degrees among American students. (In the Faculty of Philosophy only, this degree is designated Bachelor of Philosophy.) The M.Phil. is awarded upon the successful completion of a two-year course of study culminating in a short thesis and a group of examinations similar in format to those required for the BA degree. Standards in the M.Phil programs, which is determined by the relevant Faculty Boards of the University, is highly selective. Two samples of recent work, approximately 2,000 words each, are required for admission to read for any degree in which the M.Phil. may be pursued.

Degrees which are available after at least three terms of study and on the successful completion of an examination are the Master of Studies (M.St.) degree in arts subjects, the Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree by coursework in scientific subjects, and the Master of Business Administration. (Rhodes Scholars, who wish to work for one of these degrees, will need to plan to take a second such degree, certificate, or diploma, since the Scholarship is awarded on the expectation that the Scholar will engage in full-time academic work for two years. Extension of work into the second year for a degree which requires only three terms for completion is not permitted.)

Advanced degrees by research only are offered in both Arts and Sciences. The M.Sc. by research is available in certain scientific subjects, and Master of Letters (M.Litt.) is a research degree in the Arts. For these degrees two years of study are normally required before presentation of a thesis.

Prior to admission to D.Phil. status, candidates must pass a qualifying test, normally taken at the end of the first year of work. Successful M.Phil. candidates may also be permitted to transfer to D.Phil. status if their M.Phil. thesis can suitably be extended to a D.Phil. thesis. A minimum of three years of residency will usually be required, and normally a thesis must be submitted within twelve terms from the time of admission. The standard is high: a D.Phil. thesis must represent, "a significant and substantial piece of research."

The pursuit of graduate work of any kind at Oxford is best understood as an individual opportunity in the company of other independent scholars to utilize its resources for research, which include the Bodleian Library and other libraries, and extensive laboratories equipped for advanced scientific research. Details about the requirements for advanced degrees are published annually in the Graduate Prospectus. Additional information about Oxford University can be obtained from the Oxford University web site.