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Background

The Rhodes Scholarship is the oldest and most prestigious international scholarship for postgraduate study. Funded by The Rhodes Trust, endowed by the will of John Cecil Rhodes, the Rhodes Scholarship provides full funding (tuition, living expenses and some funding for travel) for two years of study at Oxford, with the possible extension for a third year.

International distribution of Rhodes Scholarships
There are currently 93 Rhodes Scholarships awarded each year by a total of 18 different countries around the world. Are you an international student? Find out if your home country awards Rhodes Scholarships.

Distribution of Rhodes Scholarships within Canada
Eleven of these scholarships are awarded in Canada through a series of provincial selection processes. Only two scholarships are awarded to Ontario applicants, so the competition is exceptionally rigorous in this province.

Where can I apply?
Applicants may apply to the committee of their home province (or country, where applicable) or to the committee of any jurisdiction where they have completed any university study. In effect this means that most York applicants will be applying to the Ontario committee, which has more applicants per award than any other jurisdiction in Canada.

Rhodes Scholarships are distributed across six regions in Canada. The following are the distribution statistics from 1997-2002:

Rhodes Scholarship
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Western Region
(MB, SK & AB)

ON

PQ

Maritime Region
(NB, NS & PEI)

BC

NL

Number or Rhodes Scholarships awarded annually

3

2

2

2

1

1

Average number of applications to each selection committee

16 (MB)
13.5 (SK)
33 (AB)

58

27

40

28.5

17.5

York University's Rhodes Scholarship winners:

York University has had five Rhodes Scholarship winners in its short history. The two most recent ones are:

Irvin Studin (1999 winner)
Irvin came to York on a President's Scholarship (awarded to the top entering students in each Faculty) and was the top graduating student at the Schulich School of Business in 1999. He was also captain of the men's varsity soccer team. Irvin completed two degrees at Oxford (a second BA and an MA), both in Philosophy, Politics and Economics. He then had his Rhodes Scholarship extended to a third year during which he completed an MSc at the London School of Economics. He has now returned to Canada where he a policy strategist in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa.

Loraine Ronchi (1996 winner)
Loraine graduated from Glendon in 1996 with a major in economics. She completed an MPhil degree in Economics at Oxford on her Rhodes Scholarship, and is currently completing a PhD in Economics at the University of Sussex in England. She is a microeconomist working on development policy for agricultural commodity farmers.

If you are a York University student interested in applying for the Rhodes Scholarship, please contact us at vpstdnts@yorku.ca before starting to put together the application.