Oxford Scholarships & WHT
Studying at Oxford is expensive, but there are manyscholarships available for MSc students. With advanced planning, there is agood probability that you will be able to secure at least some funding for yourMSc. In fact, after debating whether to apply to Cambridge or Oxford, this wasa main reason that I eventually opted for the latter; Cambridge seems to offersignificantly less scholarships for MSc students.
The female scholars in my scholarship cohort (2017/18, more info below)
Obvious Links, Hidden Links
If you’ve read my page about Oxford colleges, then you already have some understanding of the separation between OxfordUniversity and the Oxford colleges. As a result of this, you should apply forscholarships through both the general university system and through thecolleges themselves! This is something that I, and many of my foreign colleagues, did not fully comprehend before arriving at Oxford.
For a list of university scholarships, see here.
Although the university search engine is supposed to list all the collegespecific scholarships as well, I’ve found that in practice this isn’t the case.For instance, this page listingthe numerous scholarships specific to New College offers options that do notcome up in the university search engine results. (On a slight tangent, and as aquick anecdote: “New College” is so called because it was new when it was founded in 1386!)
My general recommendation is to first exhaust theoptions in the university link above, and then to start googling each of thecolleges individually, the good old-fashioned way, starting with the wealthiest colleges:
Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust Scholarship
During my time at Oxford, I was extremely fortunateto be fully funded by the Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust (WHT) Scholarship. TheScholarship is aimed at 1 year MSc students from around the world, and includesaround 30 students each year.
One of the WHT scholarship's workshop on presentation skills
WHT’s Uniqueness
The WHT scholarship staff are exceptionally kind,generous, and helpful, and they made my year at Oxford so much more warm andcomforting. Amongst other things, the scholarship arranged a several-day,pre-term seminar for the scholars about leadership and morals, which was bothinteresting and allowed the scholars to get to know each other well before theterm started. Throughout the year, WHT hosted further leadership sessions, aswell as lighter events such as tours of Parliament and ice-skating in Londonduring Christmas.
Part of what I believe sets this scholarship apartfrom, say, the Rhodes Scholarship, is its intimacy and multiculturalism. Sincethere are no more than 3 scholars from a specific country per year, this meansthat there are no country-specific cliques and that there is space fornon-American perspectives to be thoroughly heard and focused on. The trustkeeps in touch with its graduates, and we alumnis have always felt that we havegotten a gift of supporters for life, who will always be happy to help us withour endeavors.
If you want to learn more, have a look at the WHT website, and feel free to email me if youhave any questions.
Advice for Applicants
The trust was created by GeorgeWeidenfeld (1919-2016), who led an inspiring life and builthimself up from scratch in the UK after his move there in 1938, he and hisfamily having managed to leave Nazi Germany. The trust is further supported byMichael Lewis and André Hoffmann.
Beforeyou apply for the scholarship, take the time to read about about GeorgeWeidenfeld and understand the vision he had. Learning about his life will leaveyou wiser and more humble, and will also help you better prepare for theapplication interviews, since you will have a better grasp of what thescholarship is looking for.
