(32 awards)
The Rhodes scholarships were created
by the will of Cecil J. Rhodes, a British colonial pioneer
and statesman. They provide for two years of study at the
University of Oxford, with the possibility of renewal for
a third year. The Rhodes Trustees pay the Scholar all educational
costs, maintenance, and travel expenses.
Cecil Rhodes wished to advance international
understanding and peace by bringing together talented young
men and women in an environment highly congenial to personal
and intellectual development.
Rhodes specified that the persons
chosen as Scholars should have demonstrated literary and
scholastic attainments; truthfulness, courage, devotion
to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindness,
unselfishness, and fellowship, exhibition of moral force
of character and of instincts to lead and to take an interest
in one's contemporaries; and physical vigor, as shown by
fondness for and success in sports.
Committees of Selection meet in
each American state in early December. District Committees
meet three days later to decide which of the candidates
nominated at the state level will receive scholarships.
A candidate must be a citizen of the United States, at least
18 years of age, and no more than 24 years of age. He or
she must be a college senior, sure to graduate by October
of the year of matriculation at Oxford.
Forms are lengthy, and require 5-8
references. Applicants must seek institutional endorsement.
Formal institutional endorsement is required.
THE
NEW SELECTION SYSTEM
As they have for a century, Rhodes applicants
will still apply as a representative of their state- either
the state of residence or the state of college or university
training. There will, however, be only one stage of competition
for the candidates you endorse.
Beginning in the 2005 competition, states
will be combined to create 16 districts, each with approximately
the same size pool of applicants, determined on three-year
rolling averages, and adjusted periodically as necessary.
The districts will consist of a single state (California
and New York) to six, and most will consist of two or three
states. For the convenience of candidates, most districts
will consist of contiguous states, but this may not always
be possible if we are to maintain near-equal applicant pools.
Each district committee will review dossiers
to select those applicants to appear for a personal interview,
just as state committees have done in the past. These 16
new committees will each select two Rhodes Scholars-elect.
As always, no one will be confirmed as a Rhodes Scholar
until admitted to a college, or in the case of graduate
students, to Oxford University and one of its colleges.
The criteria for selection, interview techniques,
and traditions (including candidate receptions, re-interviews
as necessary, etc.) will remain unchanged. We will still
choose chairs, who must never be Rhodes Scholars themselves,
and members to assure a panel that is distinguished and
also diverse in field, profession, age, and experience.
The winners will be announced immediately at the end of
the interviews, as in the past. And as has always been the
case, winners will be designated by state and Oxford college.
This new system will offer a number of advantages:
