There's a genuinely rare feature to the Clarendon Scholarship at the University of Oxford: you don't apply for it separately at all. If you apply for an eligible Master's or DPhil course at Oxford by the relevant deadline, you're automatically considered — no extra form, no additional essay, nothing beyond your normal graduate application. For a fully funded award at a university ranked first in the world by the Times Higher Education and Forbes rankings, that's a remarkably low-friction route in.
Clarendon covers full course fees plus a living expenses grant, with no restrictions on nationality, residence, or subject — UK applicants are eligible alongside everyone else, unlike some Oxford funding schemes that exclude home students.
About the Clarendon Fund
The Clarendon Fund is Oxford's flagship graduate scholarship programme, funding scholars across every division of the university — Humanities, Medical Sciences, Mathematical/Physical/Life Sciences, Social Sciences, and the Department for Continuing Education. Sources differ on the exact number awarded each year: the original programme materials we worked from cite around 130 new scholarships annually, while some external aggregators cite over 200 — worth checking Oxford's own current figures if the exact scale matters to your decision, since award numbers can shift year to year.
Who Can Apply
- Open to applicants of any nationality, with no residency restrictions
- Eligible for all full-time and part-time Master's and DPhil (PhD) courses, across any subject
- Must apply for a new Master's or DPhil course at Oxford — this scholarship doesn't apply retroactively
- Not eligible: applicants holding a deferred graduate offer, or current Oxford students continuing the same degree into the next year
- Selection is based on academic excellence — a first-class honours degree or equivalent (broadly comparable to a 3.7/4.0 GPA) is typical of successful applicants
- Entry requirements and selection criteria vary slightly by subject area, so check your specific course's requirements directly
Financial Benefits
- Full course fees covered
- An annual living expenses grant, normally sufficient to cover the cost of living as a single student in Oxford — this tracks the UKRI minimum doctoral stipend rate, which is reviewed and typically increases each year, so check the current rate for 2027-28 rather than relying on older published figures
- Funding is provided for the full period of fee liability (1–2 years for Master's, 3–4 years for DPhil)
Available Study Fields
Clarendon has no subject restrictions — it's available across Oxford's full range of graduate courses, spanning the Humanities Division, Medical Sciences Division, Mathematical, Physical and Life Sciences Division, Social Sciences Division, and the Department for Continuing Education. Check Oxford's official course list for the full range relevant to your interests.
Application Deadline
The headline Clarendon-eligible deadline is 31 January 2027, but this is the latest possible date — many individual courses set their own earlier December or January deadline, and missing your specific course deadline means missing Clarendon consideration too. Always check your chosen course's own deadline rather than assuming you have until the end of January.
How to Apply
Submit your graduate application for your chosen Oxford course through the standard online admissions portal, by that course's specific December or January deadline. There's no separate Clarendon application — the relevant department reviews your application and notifies you of the outcome, with automatic consideration for Clarendon built into the process.
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