FAQs

Our guidance for age eligibility is specific to each constituency and is unfortunately immovable. The age limits (as outlined in the Information for Candidates) are an integral part of the Rhodes Scholarship and are set by the Rhodes Trustees, and we strictly adhere to those rules.  

If your country is not included in our list of constituencies, you may still be able to apply for the Global Rhodes Scholarship. Please enter your country in our eligibility checker to see if you are eligible to apply for the Global constituency. 

Applicants to the Scholarship should have, or be about to complete, an undergraduate degree. The Rhodes Scholarship is a fully funded, full time, postgraduate scholarship which enables talented young people from around the world to study at the University of Oxford. As such, applicants need to meet the academic requirements in the eligibility checker, which includes holding a strong undergraduate degree, as well as meeting or exceeding the specific entry requirements of their chosen full-time course at the University of Oxford.

To apply for the Rhodes Scholarship you must meet or exceed the specific entry requirements of your chosen full-time course at the University of Oxford (https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/courses-a-z-listing).    

You should note however that given the very intense international competition for places at the University of Oxford, candidates will have a greater chance of successful admission to Oxford if they have a First Class Honours Degree, a GPA of 3.70/4.0 or higher, or equivalent. Please consult the Information for Candidates document for more information specific to your constituency.

This depends on your circumstances and the constituency you are applying for, please consult the Information for Candidates document for your constituency to find out more. You can find out which constituency(s) you are eligible to apply to through using the eligibility checker on our website https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/scholarships/applications/

Please note that all applicants who do not speak English as a first language should check that they will be able to meet Oxford University’s higher level language requirements when applying to Oxford. You can find out more about these here: http://www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/englishproficiency   

You may only submit one application in a single year. However, if you are unsuccessful in your first application to the Rhodes Scholarships, you may subsequently re-apply once more (and this must be in the same constituency), subject to meeting the eligibility criteria. 

You may not apply to the Rhodes Scholarship more than twice.

You should apply to the Rhodes Scholarship first. Following the selection process successful applicants apply separately to their chosen programme of study via the University of Oxford’s graduate application form, with support from the team at Rhodes House. This means that Rhodes Scholarship applications submitted in 2024 are for entry to the University of Oxford in October 2025.  

No, the application process for the Rhodes Scholarship is separate from the Oxford application. If you are selected for the Rhodes Scholarship you will need to apply to the University of Oxford very soon after selection and the team at Rhodes House will be on hand to support you with the application process. We advise you to prepare as much as possible in advance for your application to Oxford. Rhodes House has access to your entire Rhodes Scholarship application, and your references may be re-used, if appropriate, to support your application to the University of Oxford.  

Some constituencies (USA, Canada and Global) require applicants to obtain an institutional nomination or endorsement as part of the application form. Please see here for more details on the guidelines, as these vary by constituency. Senior institutional officials, including the President, Dean, Rector, Vice-Provost or other official responsible for graduate fellowships, may nominate/endorse a candidate. 

Yes, you can still apply if you meet the eligibility criteria, but Scholars come into residence in Oxford in late September of the year after their selection. This means Scholars who are successfully elected in 2024, will commence their studies at Oxford in October 2025.    

If you already hold an offer from Oxford University, you may choose to defer your Oxford offer so that you can apply for the Rhodes Scholarship but we strongly advise against this. This is because of the competitive nature of the Rhodes Scholarship, there are no guarantees you will be successful in your application. The Rhodes Scholarship itself cannot be brought forward or deferred to a later academic year.    

We advise that you apply to the Rhodes Scholarship in advance of your Oxford application, usually in the final year of your undergraduate (or postgraduate, if you still meet the age criteria) studies. If you are unsuccessful in your application for a Rhodes Scholarship, this then gives you time to explore other scholarship opportunities, both at Oxford and elsewhere, before applying to institutions for postgraduate studies. 

Yes, you can still apply for the Rhodes Scholarship. However, you may only apply to start a new course at Oxford. If you are already on a postgraduate course at Oxford you cannot apply for Rhodes to cover the final year(s) of your current course. 

No. The Rhodes Scholarship is a fully funded, full time, postgraduate award which enables talented young people from around the world to study at the University of Oxford only. If you are looking for funding for undergraduate studies, or for postgraduate studies at another institution, please see our information on other scholarship opportunities. 

The selection process varies by constituency, but it in every case it will involve a written application, social engagement event and final interview (both of which should be attended in person). Please see the ‘application overview’ section of the website for more detail about each section of the application process-  https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/scholarships/application-overview/

This is a social event, usually held in the days prior to the interviews, for the candidates to get to know each other and the selection committee. It takes various different forms due to the variety of cultural contexts and timings, but is usually a drinks reception or a meal celebrating the achievement of applicants becoming finalists. There are no formal questions, or scoring, of this aspect of the selection weekend, it is simply an opportunity to familiarize with the selection space, people and have informal conversations. 

You can find out more about the Social Engagement on the Application Overview page, where recent Scholars talk about their experiences!

Selection committees are made up of Rhodes Scholars and community leaders from diverse backgrounds. The interview is of core importance as it is here that selection committees have the opportunity to weigh up a candidate's depth of engagement, accomplishments, and aspirations. In posing their questions, committee members initiate discussion that will help them ascertain who best represents the potential we are looking for. Proven intellectual and academic attainment of a high standard is the first quality required of Scholars, but they are also required to show exceptional character, leadership in extra-curricular activities, and a commitment to service in the public good. The interview will therefore be wide-ranging in nature, designed to test candidates' intellectual skills and reasoning ability, but also to reveal their character, core commitments, and potential to make a positive contribution to society.

You can find out more about the interview on the Application Overview page, where recent Scholars talk about their experiences!

The Rhodes Scholarship requires that your personal and academic statements are truthful and original narratives. It will not help your application if you use GenAI to tell your story, as the output will be generic and will not allow selectors to gain an understanding of who you are.

However, GenAI is a tool, and could be useful in preparing some aspects of your application. Some acceptable uses of GenAI in helping you to write your personal or academic statement might include:

• Reducing your original narrative from e.g. 2,000 to 1,000 words
• Checking the spelling or grammar
• Writing a summary of your narrative, to help you synthesise your thoughts

If you use a generative AI tool to prepare your statement, you risk losing the rights, exclusivity and confidentiality of your inputs – in effect it could become the property of the AI provider. Each Large Language Model (LLM) has its own terms and conditions and you should read these before using it to understand the implications of putting your own original or confidential information into that model.  The output from the GenAI tool may also raise issues – for example, it may infringe third party Intellectual Property (IP) or it could be incorrect (hallucination etc). 

Yes, GenAI can be used in preparation for your Rhodes interview, for example in generating questions you might be asked, similar to preparing for a job interview. We recommend that you also discuss this with your mentors (family, friends, academic advisors or supervisors, or your character reference providers etc.). 

The Rhodes Scholarship covers Oxford University course fees, as well as providing an annual stipend.

For the 2023-24 academic year, the stipend is £19,092 per annum (£1,591 per month) from which Scholars pay all living expenses, including accommodation. This figure will be updated for the coming academic year in June. Please note - this is not sufficient to cover partners or dependents.

Following selection for the Scholarship, the Rhodes Trust will cover the fee required to apply to study at the University of Oxford. The Trust will cover the fee for a student visa and the associated International Health Surcharge (IHS), which enables international students to access the UK's National Health Service. The Rhodes Trust will cover two economy class flights - to and from the UK - for the beginning and end of studies in Oxford.

On arrival in Oxford, Scholars receive a settling in allowance and for those Scholars who transition to a second course of study in Oxford, they will again receive assistance to cover the fee for visa renewal and further application for IHS.

The basic tenure for the scholarship is two years, scholars cannot apply for just a one-year course. In certain cases, scholars may apply for a third year or more. Please read the Conditions of Tenure to find out more, or contact us at scholarship.queries@rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk for further help. 

Tenure of other awards in conjunction with a Rhodes Scholarship is not permitted without prior consultation with the Registrar of the Rhodes Trust in Oxford.

Scholars come into residence in Oxford in late September of the year after their selection. The academic year at Oxford University begins in October. This means Scholars who are successfully selected in 2024 will commence their studies at Oxford in October 2025.   

Scholarships cannot be brought forward or deferred to a later academic year.  

If you are selected for the Rhodes Scholarship you will need to apply to the University of Oxford very soon after selection and the team at Rhodes House will be in touch to support you with the application process. We advise you to prepare as much as possible in advance for your application to Oxford. Rhodes House has access to your entire Rhodes Scholarship application, and your references may be re-used, if appropriate, to support your application to the University of Oxford. 

The Rhodes Scholarship is confirmed only upon successful admission to the University of Oxford. 

Whether you're looking for Rhodes Scholars from your region, or for current Scholars in Residence, you can find this in the Rhodes Scholar Database. 

Applicants should bear in mind that a change in government policy now means that students can only bring partners or dependents if they are doing a DPhil or a research masters (including the MPhil Law and MPhil Sociological research, but no other MPhil). It is also worth noting that the Scholarship stipend is sufficient only for one person, and that the Trust takes no financial responsibility for the support of a Scholar's spouse or dependants. 

The Rhodes scholarship covers the vast majority of postgraduate courses at the University of Oxford. Below is a list of courses we commonly get questions about. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, so if the course you are interested in is not listed, it is worth consulting our Conditions of Tenure document for more information and then contacting us if you are still unsure. 

You can see the full range of courses offered by Oxford University here: https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/courses-a-z-listing?wssl=1  

You can see the Conditions of Tenure here: 

www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/files/conditions-of-tenure    

No, unfortunately the Rhodes Scholarship can only cover full-time courses and so these courses wouldn’t be covered. You may wish to consider other scholarship opportunities instead and you can find out more here:

https://www.rhodeshouse.ox.ac.uk/scholarships/other-scholarship-opportunities 

Unfortunately, the Rhodes Scholarship does not cover PGCert or PGDip courses; this includes the PGCE (PGCert in Education). To find out about the courses we cover, please see here.

Unfortunately, the Rhodes Scholarship doesn’t cover the Doctorate of Clinical Psychology (DClinPsych). This is an NHS funded training scheme only open to those already eligible to live and work in the UK, with no fees payable and a bursary/stipend is provided whilst candidates train to be a Clinical Psychologist.

The Rhodes Scholarship does cover other full time graduate Psychology courses including the DPhil in Neuroscience (1+3) with the fees and stipend being covered for the duration of the course.

To find out more about the courses we cover, please see here.

Unfortunately the scholarship does not cover the graduate-entry/accelerated degree in Medicine, however there are a number of graduate degrees offered in the Medical Sciences division, which might be of interest to you. Please see the graduate course listing page on the university website for details of all the medical degrees on offer at the university -

https://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/graduate/courses/courses-a-z-listing?wssl=1   

To find out about the courses we cover, please see here.

The MFE (Masters in Financial Economics) and MBA (Masters of Business Administration) can only be studied in the second year of the Rhodes Scholarship. As the minimum length of the Scholarship is two years, this means that you will need to choose another one-year course to study in the first year.   

Another exception is that if you wish to study either the MFE or MBA in your second year, you cannot study the Masters of Public Policy (MPP) in the first year of the scholarship.  

Please note that the MFE and MBA are professional degrees and candidates will need to check the entry requirements carefully before selecting these courses. In particular, for the MBA at least two years of full-time work experience are required to apply. You can find out more about the courses here: https://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/programmes  

Yes, you can, as long as you study the MBA in the second year of the scholarship. However, if you wish to study a one-year Masters and an MBA on the Rhodes Scholarship, another viable option is to apply for your chosen one-year Masters course first, and then apply for your MBA during your first year at Oxford. This has the advantage of keeping your options open for second year should your plans change and gives you additional time to strengthen your MBA application.