About the Rhodes Scholarship

Rhodes Scholars are elected for two years of study at the University of Oxford, with the possibility of renewal for a third year. A Rhodes Scholarship covers all University and College fees, a personal stipend and one economy class airfare to Oxford at the start of the Scholarship, as well as an economy flight back to the student's home country at the conclusion of the Scholarship.

Application Deadline

Applications for Canadian Scholars open on June 1st 2023. 

Applications for Canadian Scholars close on Thursday September 28, 2023

Deadline for submission of references: Thursday October 5th

The deadline to request an endorsement letter from our office is Tuesday August 1st 2023 at 5pm - no late applications will be considered for endorsement under any circumstances.

IMPORTANT: If you are planning to apply for a constituency other than Canada or the United States, to be considered for an endorsement you must submit your application a minimum of one month prior to your nation's application deadline. It is your responsibility to contact our office to ensure you are meeting all relevant deadlines. If you are applying for a constituency other than Canada, please email the Dean of Students Office to confirm your internal application deadline.

Eligibility

Full-time students at McGill University who are available to study at Oxford University the year after applying are eligible for a Rhodes Scholarship.

A candidate must:

1. be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident (students who are attending a Canadian university on a student visa are not eligible to apply, but may be eligible for their respective countries);*
2. be domiciled in Canada;*
3. must be aged between 18 - 23 on October 1st, 2023 (i.e you must have been born after 1 October 1999 and before 2nd October 2005) OR
4. must be under the age of 27 on October 1st, 2023 (i.e. born after 1 October 1996) AND must have completed our first undergraduate degree on or after October 1st, 2022
5. A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.70 at the time of application; and 
6. have received an undergraduate degree of a sufficiently high standard to be admitted to postgraduate study at the University of Oxford before taking up the Scholarship.

*students who are not applying through the Canadian Constituency are responsible for looking up the eligibility requirements for the country/region they wish to apply through.

Applying

Please consult the Information for Canadian Applicants PDF available on the Rhodes website. All relevant information is listed on their website, and we encourage you to carefully read the requirements.

McGill's Internal Preparatory Process

In order to apply to the Rhodes Scholarship, all applicants must submit an Endorsement letter from their undergraduate institution, regardless if they are applying for the Canadian Rhodes Scholarship or another nation's scholarship. For more information on requesting an Endorsement Letter, please see the tab to the left.

Canadian Scholarship

Due to the high volume of applications received, McGill will only endorse a maximum of two applicants for each Canadian Region excluding Quebec, in which we will endorse 2-4 applicants.

Other Nations/Global Scholarship

McGill will endorse a maximum of two applicants per Nation/Global Scholarship. This means that even though countries like the US have multiple scholarships available for different states, McGill will still only nominate a total of two applicants per nation. In certain extremely exceptional circumstances, we may endorse a 3rd candidate for a nation/global scholarship, but this happens rarely. 

Endorsement Requests

All Rhodes Applicants require an Endorsement Letter from the university in which they received their undergraduate degree. 

If you would like to be considered as an Internal McGill Rhodes Finalist, we ask that you please deanofstudents [at] mcgill.ca (email us your request) by 5pm on Tuesday August 1st 2023. We will not accept any late applications.

In the email, please provide your:

• Name
• Student ID Number
• Degree granted (for McGill grads)
• Date degree was granted (for McGill grads)
• Degree pursued (for current McGill students)
• Expected graduation date (for current McGill students)
• Province or country to which you intend to apply 
• Date of birth (in year/month/day format)
• Preferred pronouns (for the endorsement letter, if selected)

You are also required to submit the following documents to our office in a single PDF file, saved in your full name and region which you are applying to:

• Your CV
• Your personal statement (as close to finished draft as possible)
• Your transcript (can be unofficial)

Example of PDF saved name: "Jane Doe - Quebec"

We will not consider any applicant for an endorsement request without first reviewing the requested documents. Please note that due to the high volume of applications received, any application not in a single PDF file will not be considered.  

Resources

Information for Canadian Candidates (ENG)

Rhodes FAQ

Rhodes Trust in Oxford

Oxford University Graduate Programs