Fellowships and Scholarships

Rhodes Scholarships

Internal BU Deadline: September 4, 2009

*DO NOT SUMBIT YOUR APPLICATION UNTIL IT HAS BEEN APPROVED BY ASSISTANT PROVOST KENNEDY!

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 hard copy of the online application, do not electronically submit the application until instructed to do so. to the Office of the Provost One Silber Way, 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 for endorsement by the University. Only applicants endorsed by the University will be invited to apply to the district competitions.

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.

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 districts 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 the District Committee of Selection.

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

Information about Oxford University can be obtained from the Oxford University web site.