Rhodes Scholarship

The Scholarship pays University of Oxford course fees in full and an annual stipend from which Scholars meet all living costs, including accommodation. The current FAQ gives 21,060 pounds a year, paid monthly; the scholarship page quotes 20,400 pounds for 2025-26. It also pays the Oxford application fee, the student visa and Immigration Health Surcharge, two economy flights (to the UK at the start and home at the end) and a settling-in allowance.

The stipend is for one person. The Trust takes no financial responsibility for partners or children, and under current UK visa rules dependants can come only with DPhil or research master's students.

Most full-time postgraduate courses at Oxford are covered, and the Scholarship expects a course, or a combination of courses, that forms a coherent plan for at least two years. A DPhil taken directly can receive up to three years of fees and stipend, and a master's followed by a DPhil up to four years in total, if approved. Professional one-year degrees such as the MBA, MPP or MFE are funded for that one year only and cannot be extended. A second BA with senior status, a two-year undergraduate degree, is also possible.

Some courses are not covered: PGCert and PGDip courses (including the PGCE), the Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, graduate-entry medicine and any part-time course. Four-year doctoral training programmes are covered only if another funder pays for one of the years.

Places are allocated by constituency: a country, a group of countries, or a region. Each constituency sets its own age limit, deadline and selection process, and publishes them in an Information for Candidates document. Candidates use the eligibility checker on the Trust's site and apply in the constituency they have the strongest connection to; those with strong ties to two constituencies but full eligibility in neither can ask for inter-jurisdictional consideration.

Age limits are strict. In Germany, for example, candidates for 2027 must be 18 to 23 on 1 October 2026, or under 27 if they finished their first degree on or after 1 October 2025. Academically, candidates must meet the entry requirements of their Oxford course; the Trust says a First Class Honours degree or a GPA of 3.70 or above gives a better chance of admission. Non-native speakers must meet Oxford's higher English language level. The Global Scholarships, for candidates outside every constituency, have been suspended by the Trustees.

Each constituency has a National Secretary and a selection committee, and its decision is final. Selection is made without regard to financial means, and a committee may make no award if it finds no candidate good enough. Unsuccessful applicants do not receive feedback.

Winning the Scholarship does not admit you to Oxford: the award is confirmed only once the University admits you, and Scholars Elect make two course applications to improve their chances. The Scholarship starts in the October after selection and cannot be brought forward or deferred. Scholars may not hold another substantial scholarship at the same time, and must declare smaller awards above a set amount.

More than 300 Rhodes Scholars are at Oxford at any time, spread across 35 of the University's 38 colleges. Alongside their degrees they take part in the Scholar programme at Rhodes House, built on a leadership framework of self, others and world, which is also the frame for the personal statement questions.

The network now counts more than 4,500 living Rhodes Scholars in over 100 countries. The Trust lists Nobel laureates, Pulitzer Prize winners, heads of state, university presidents and leaders of organisations such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International and Oxfam among its alumni.