Essential Information

Closing date for applications Qualifications Value Eligibility Subject of study Prospectuses One year courses Important considerations Further information

Closing Date

The closing date for applications for all states is 1 September each year. Where 1 September falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the closing date is the following Monday, that is, 2 or 3 September. Applications for the 2010 scholarship are now closed.

Qualifications

Cecil Rhodes listed in that section of his Will in which he attempted to define the type of Scholar he was seeking:

Literary and scholastic attainment; fondness of and success in outdoor sports; qualities of truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship; exhibition of moral force of character and instincts to lead and take an interest in one's contemporaries. The Will also directs that "no student shall be qualified or disqualified for election to a Scholarship on account of race or religious opinions".

A Rhodes Scholar should not be one-sided or selfish. Intellectual ability must be founded upon sound intellect. Success in being elected to office in student organisations may or may not be evidence of unself-seeking leadership. It was Cecil Rhodes' hope that a Rhodes Scholar would come to esteem the performance of public duties as the highest aim. Physical fitness and skill and a liking for joining in exercise are activities usually sought in a Rhodes Scholar but continuing physical vigour to enable a Scholar to make an effective contribution to the world may be as important as prowess in a particular sport.

These qualifications may be summarised in the following profile:

Value

Financial need gives no special claim to a Rhodes Scholarship. A Rhodes Scholar receives a personal allowance, or stipend, fixed from time to time by the Trust. In 2010 Scholars will receive not less than GBP 958 per month. In addition, all fees are paid by the Trust direct to the College.

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

Successful candidates will be assisted with their travelling expenses to the United Kingdom.

Eligibility

Applications for the Scholarship for the year 2010 will close
on 1 September 2009.

Candidates must:

1. be of an age that they will have passed their eighteenth and not reached their twenty-fifth birthday by 1 October, 2009;
2. be Australian citizens, have been resident in Australia for at least five of the last ten years, and be available for interview in Australia at the time of selection in October 2009. Interview dates vary in different states. Candidates for the Australia at Large Scholarships are usually interviewed in Canberra in the first week of December.
3. Candidates with dual citizenship may not apply in more than one country of which they are citizens.
4. have achieved academic training in a degree-awarding body in Australia or overseas sufficiently advanced to assure completion of a Bachelor's degree (at Honours level or the equivalent) by December 2009, but certainly no later than the end of the first semester in 2010.
5. Candidates should apply in the State in which they have received, or will receive, their first degree. Candidates for selection in a State will also be considered for nomination for the scholarships for Australia-at-Large.
6. Candidates educated in the ACT or other territory of the Commonwealth should apply directly for the Australia-at-Large scholarships; those who do so will be considered for those Scholarships only and not for a State award. Such candidates are interviewed in the first instance by a separate Selection Committee sitting in Canberra.

Subject of study

There is no restriction as to the field of academic specialisation that an applicant may pursue, although the proposed course of study must be available at Oxford (but see note below on one-year courses). A Scholar will generally be planning to read for a higher degree such as the MLitt, BCL/Mphil (see note below on one-year courses), BPhil, MPhil, DPhil, or a Scholar may read for the Oxford BA in any of the Final Honour Schools (the BA can normally be taken in two years rather than three). Details of courses may be found in the Oxford University Undergraduate Prospectus and the Graduate Studies Prospectus copies of which are available either on microfilm or in book form in most University libraries or (subject to very limited availability) on loan only from the Honorary Secretary to the Selection Committee.

The Undergraduate Prospectus has information on courses such as the BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE). The Undergraduate Prospectus also tends to have more extensive college information.

You are strongly advised to go to the Oxford web site and review the information on courses in the faculty or department in which you plan to study. There is a wealth of information on most deparmental web sites, and simply by "drilling down" through the layers of information, you should find most of information you are seeking. Certainly, most departmental web sites contain much more detail than the more general information in the prospectus.

Candidates planning to do a course that may appear unrelated to their undergraduate studies in Australia should ensure that they are aware of any prerequisites or co-requisites for the Oxford course. This can be an issue when, for example, a candidate without a strong background in Common Law seeks to study for a Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL)/Master of Philosophy (MPhil) combination where the Magister Juris (MJur)/MPhil combination might be more appropriate. If you are not sure whether you have the necessary prerequisites, you should contact the relevant department at Oxford. This is the responsibility of the candidate as State Honorary Secretaries cannot give any more than very general guidance in this area.

Prospectuses

While both web versions of the prospectuses do not have all the information that is in the printed books, they do have most of the relevant information. However, you will find it useful to obtain your own copy of the Graduate Studies Prospectus. You can do this by writing to :

The Graduate Admissions Office
University Offices
Wellington Square
Oxford OX1 2JD

email:

One year courses

The Rhodes Trustees have decided that, on election a Rhodes Scholar will be able to pursue a one-year course at Oxford.

The MJur (Magister Juris) and BCL (Bachelor of Civil Law which, despite its title, is a Master's degree) are the main courses that are affected, although there are others. The BCL, which was previously a one- or two-year course, is now a one-year course exclusively. The two-year Law program is now the BCL/MPhil or MJur/MPhil. Refer to the Oxford Graduate Studies Prospectus or, for more complete details, see the Oxford Faculty of Law web pages for further details.

Please note that in 2005 the Rhodes Trust decided that it would NOT fund candidates to read for an MBA.

Important considerations

The following needs to be borne in mind:

• An outstanding academic record leading to an honours degree or its equivalent is needed. Competition for the Rhodes Scholarship is very keen, and the standard of academic achievement required is very high, partly because the standards for acceptance at Oxford are extremely rigorous. You will certainly be reading for an honours degree or, if you are not formally enrolled in an honours year, you expect to be awarded honours on graduation (in some Law, and other faculties, honours are awarded on the basis of final year marks, rather than on a thesis or similar research which has formed part of a formal honours year). Applicants with a lesser average will find it extremely difficult to make the short list. You should either have already completed your degree, or expect to do so this year. If you do not expect to complete your degree until the end of the first semester next year, you should discuss your application with the Secretary to the Selection Committee.
• Watch the age limit. You must not have passed your 25th birthday by 1 October in the year you apply for the scholarship.
• Referees should be chosen carefully. You will be required to nominate six referees, at least three of whom should be academic referees, plus one who can speak of your school days and at least one who can write concerning your other activities.
• If you are planning to do a research degree at Oxford (that is, a DPhil, or a Master's degree by research, not by coursework), the Selection Committee will usually expect to see evidence that you have been in touch with the appropriate person in the relevant department at Oxford, and that he or she has indicated that your planned project could be supported by the department. There is no point in attempting to do a research degree in a discipline that is not within the area of expertise of any Oxford department or faculty. Plainly, a candidate needs to get in touch with the appropriate person(s) at Oxford sooner, rather than later, as it can take some months to sort out such matters. See below for information on graduate degrees by coursework.

Further information

Some advice: On occasions, some departments at Oxford are reluctant to make any solid commitment to a candidate. Why? Because whatever a department may say will be subject to the University's admission processes. Plainly, it is no good a department offering you a place in their research programme if the University declines your application for admission! While it would be difficult to imagine this happening to a Rhodes Scholar from Australia, the department still needs to cover itself.

It is, therefore, important to make it clear when emailing or writing to a contact at Oxford that you are not seeking any special consideration, and that you understand you will need to go throught the normal Oxford admissions process. Mention that selection committees in Australia like to have some comfort that, should they select you as the Rhodes Scholar for your state, your area of research would be one that that can be supported at Oxford. Once they are aware you understand that they can't give any iron-clad guarantees, most departments will be as helpful as they can. Certainly, letters along the lines of "if you are successful in winning a scholarship, and gaining admission to the University, we will be happy to have you join our reseach group" are not unknown.

Email is the recommended method of communication. Check the Oxford web site for the appropriate department to which to direct your inquiries. A letter simply addressed to the Registrar is likely to wait its turn in being answered, so go directly to the department in which you want to study – there is frequently a staff member designated to oversee graduate studies. If your honours supervisor, or other member of the academic staff at your university has a contact at Oxford, so much the better.

If you are doing a graduate degree by course work, or limited research, such as the BCL, MPhil or an undergraduate degree such as PPE, there is no need to contact the relevant department at Oxford. In fact, it is probably a good idea not to. It wastes time at Oxford as all the information you need can be found in the Graduate or Undergraduate Prospectus or on the Oxford department's web site.

NOTE: Election to the Rhodes Scholarship does not carry with it a guarantee of admission to Oxford.

Who to contact for advice and an application form
Should you wish to submit an application, forms may be obtained from the Honorary Secretary to the State Selection Committee in your state. While application forms are not usually available before May each year, you are encouraged to get in touch with with the Honorary Secretary, as early in the year as possible to ensure that your preparations are on track – particularly contact with Oxford concerning your research project (if you are planning to do a research degree), and to ensure that you will be able to submit a competitive application.