Clarendon Fund Scholarships 2027 (Oxford)

Master's or DPhil study at the University of Oxford, any subject

Students walking across the cobbles of Radcliffe Square beside the Radcliffe Camera, University of Oxford

Key facts

Funder: University of Oxford
Study in: United Kingdom
Level: All levels
Funding: Full
Closes: Varies by country or course No separate application. You are considered automatically through your Oxford graduate course application. Course funding deadlines fall in early December 2026 or January 2027, so check your specific course page.
Official site: ox.ac.uk

Checked on ox.ac.uk by Farouk Yahaya, 6 October 2026. Scholarly Dream is independent and not affiliated with this funder.

The Clarendon Fund is Oxford’s flagship postgraduate scholarship, funded by Oxford University Press. Oxford now describes the scheme as offering more than 200 new scholarships each year, across the full range of Oxford Masters and DPhil programmes. Any nationality and any postgraduate course is eligible.

What makes Clarendon unusual is less the money than the mechanics. There is no Clarendon form, no Clarendon essay and, for most applicants, no Clarendon interview. The scholarship is decided on the strength of the ordinary Oxford course application, which changes where you should spend your time.

How consideration works

Every eligible applicant who submits an Oxford graduate admission application by the relevant early deadline is considered automatically, and for most applicants there is no separate scholarship interview (a department may still interview you for admission). In practice the admission application is the scholarship application. A candidate who misses the deadline, or who sends in a routine departmental application, drops out of consideration without ever hearing about it.

Flow diagram. One Oxford graduate application. If sent by the December or January deadline, it is assessed for admission and automatically considered for Clarendon, with offers from February to May. If sent in a later round such as March, it is assessed for admission only and usually not considered for Clarendon. — The same application leads to two different outcomes depending on when it arrives.

Clarendon generally only considers applicants who meet the early deadline, which for most courses is 7 January 2027. A few competitive courses close in December, and your course page gives the exact date. Applying in a later admissions round, such as March, usually means you will not be considered.

What the award covers

Item	What Clarendon provides
Fees	Full Oxford tuition and college fees
Living costs	An annual grant set at or above the UK research councils’ minimum doctoral stipend
Length	The length of the course: about one year for a Master’s, three to four for a DPhil
Community	Membership of the Clarendon scholar and alumni community
Other funding	Combinations with other awards are handled case by case under the Fund’s rules

The living grant is set for a single student. If you plan to bring a partner or children, budget for their costs separately and read Oxford’s guidance on the funds you must show for a student visa. Our guide to proving funds for a student visa explains how that check works.

Eligibility

Citizen of any country
Applying for a full-time, on-campus Oxford postgraduate course for 2027 entry
A strong undergraduate record: first-class honours or equivalent for a Master’s, and a commensurate record for a DPhil
An application submitted by the early deadline for your course
Not already holding an Oxford DPhil

The list is short, and it is all about the course application. The constituency, age and reference rules that shape the Rhodes Scholarship belong to that award; check Clarendon’s own page rather than assuming they carry over.

Where to put the effort

Since a couple of hundred awards are spread across many thousands of qualified applicants, and selection rests largely on academic merit, the departmental application carries the whole case. A few parts of it do most of the work:

For DPhil and research Master’s applicants, a research proposal that is precise, feasible and original.
References from people who know your academic work in depth. Generic letters weaken an otherwise strong file.
Every course-specific item, such as writing samples, portfolios or test scores. A missing item can sink an admission that would otherwise have been in the running.

Interior of Duke Humfrey's Library in the Bodleian, with dark wooden bookcases lining a central aisle that leads to a tall stained-glass window — Duke Humfrey's Library, the oldest reading room in the Bodleian. A Clarendon application is judged as an academic case first, so the research proposal and writing sample deserve the most time.

The research proposal is where strong and weaker files part company most clearly.

Do

State one research question in the first paragraph, in a single sentence.
Name the Oxford academics or research groups whose work your project builds on, and say how.
Show the method and the material you will use, and why it is feasible in the time the course allows.
Follow the department's word limit and any headings it sets.
Brief your referees on the course and the project so their letters discuss your research ability, not only your grades.

Don't

Open with a broad history of the field before reaching your question.
Praise Oxford in general terms. Selectors already know the university is well regarded.
Propose three projects at once in the hope that one appeals.
Reuse a proposal written for another university without changing the supervisors, resources and fit.
Leave a course-specific document until the last week. A missing item can end the application.

For a step-by-step method, see our guide to writing a research proposal and, if you are approaching a DPhil, how to email a potential supervisor before you apply.

Is it worth applying?

For someone with an excellent record who is applying to Oxford anyway, there is little extra cost in being considered. The conditions are applying on time and making the application as strong as it can be.

The weaker case is someone who would only apply to Oxford for the chance of Clarendon, with a record that sits below first-class or equivalent. Because the award follows academic merit within an already selective pool, the course application fee and the work of a research proposal may be better spent on universities where your profile is closer to the top of the field. Our guide to choosing the right Masters programme can help with that decision.

How to apply

Find your postgraduate course on the Oxford Graduate Admissions portal and note its funding deadline.
Submit the admission application, with your research statement or statement of purpose, references, transcripts and any course-specific requirements, by the early deadline (7 January 2027 for most courses; some use a December deadline shown on the course page).
You do not submit anything further for Clarendon. Every eligible on-time applicant is considered.
Admission offers begin in February 2027, and Clarendon offers follow between February and May 2027.
Accept the Clarendon offer when it is issued.

Deadlines and figures change each cycle. Confirm the current details on the official Oxford Clarendon page and your course page before applying.