Skip to main content
Rhodes Banner

  • The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, with 32 scholarship recipients chosen each year from the US.
  • The scholarship pays all university and college fees at Oxford and a living stipend for two years. (Some students choose to use only one year of support, and in some cases, students can petition to extend support to three years). The scholarship also pays for flights to and from England at the beginning and end of your years of study.
  • The first quality required of applicants is proof of intellectual and academic achievement of a high standard. Applicants will also be required to show integrity of character, interest in and respect for their fellow beings, an ability to lead, and the energy to use their talents to the full.
  • You must have at least a bachelor’s degree by the time you start your studies at Oxford and you must be 23 or younger by the date the application is due to the Rhodes Foundation, or 27 or younger if you have completed your first undergraduate degree within the last 2 years. (Note: this is a recent policy change.)
  • There is a lower GPA limit of 3.7 for the Rhodes, but the average GPA for award recipients is 3.9.
  • Applicants need only apply for the scholarship (not to the University of Oxford).
  • The application opens in June, BYU deadlines start in August, and the foundation deadline is the first Wednesday in October.

www.rhodesscholar.org

Procedure


If you plan to submit an application for the Rhodes Scholarship please note the deadlines listed on the Prestigious Scholarships Deadlines page. For this scholarship, you will submit several items to our BYU office electronically at national.scholarships@byu.edu by the BYU deadline listed on the calendar. These items are:

  • A PDF file of your completed Rhodes application. When the form asks for your endorser please list Audrey Hanks, national.scholarships@byu.edu. (In order to create the PDF of your application find and click the 'Summary' button on the final 'Review' page. You will see the 'Print Summary' button in the top left corner. It will then open a new page with options to save. Please save the file as a PDF.)
  • A PDF file of your curriculum vitae
  • A PDF file of your personal statement
  • A PDF file of a 750 word academic statement of study outlining your reasons for wishing to study at the University of Oxford, what your first and second choice courses of study are, and why you wish to pursue them
  • A picture of yourself (a headshot is preferable and will only be used for internal committee use)
  • An unofficial transcript (this can be a PDF file of your record summary found at aim.byu.edu > student academic record > record summary)
  • The list of those who will be writing your letters of recommendation and which specific letter each will be writing (academic or character reference) along with their email addresses and phone numbers. Note, however, that it is not necessary for these letters to be completed by the initial campus August deadline.
  • Three other references (individuals who are not writing your letters of recommendation) along with their email addresses and phone numbers. If BYU endorses your application, these references will be contacted with some questions about you that will help us write a more robust letter of endorsement from the university.

At the internal August deadline, we expect a fairly polished application since your application materials will be reviewed by a university committee. That committee will decide if BYU will endorse your application. You will, however, have the chance to revise your application before your final submission to the foundation, in part based on committee recommendations. The committee may request a personal interview with you before a decision is reached. You will be informed of the committee’s decision by the date listed on the calendar.

A Note on Your Personal Statement:
The section on personal statements on the Rhodes Information for Candidates reads, in part, “Your personal statement … should be entirely your own work, with no assistance received. Through the online application form you will be asked to confirm that the entered / uploaded personal statement is accurate, is your own work and that no external help was given in its creation or editing.” A clarification adds, “We ask simply that applicants be the sole writers and sole editors of their personal statements, from draft to final form, and that the statements be unedited by institutional representatives, advisors, professors, or anyone else” (Rhodes Scholarship, June 2019). The BYU Prestigious Scholarships Committee offers workshops on writing effective personal statements, and we encourage you to participate in one or more of these workshops, but we will not help you in composing or revising your statement. That part is up to you. If you have questions about your statement contact the office for clarification.