Introduction

Why have I written this guide?

I am Maya, a 2021 Marshall Scholar. I completed the MSc in Advanced Computer Science at Oxford and the MPhil in Therapeutic Sciences at Cambridge during my time in the UK. I was only the second Marshall Scholar from my undergrad university (Rutgers), and didn’t know any Marshall Scholars at the time of applying, although I did receive invaluable advice from my university’s very experienced fellowship director. Through this guide, I would like to help students, regardless of their institution or connections, understand the process and put forward their best application.

Should I apply to the Marshall Scholarship?

What is it like to be a Marshall Scholar?

Overall, my time in the UK was the best two years of my life so far!

I met many amazing people both within the Marshall community and outside of it, and made many wonderful friends from all over the world. As an example, in my

The Marshall community is amazing. So many of my fellow scholars are among the kindest people I have met, and they are all open-minded and passionate about their fields. It’s been a joy to get to know my fellow Marshalls. Even better, this community lasts for life.

Oxford is an amazing place. It is so international, and I get to talk with people from all over the world every day. Just in my house of six, we each are from a different country: England, France, Germany, China, Canada, and the US. Being able to forge close friendships with people of different nationalities is such a precious opportunity and one I’ve learned so much from. Moreover, the postgraduates I’ve met here are refreshingly passionate about their fields of study. My academic program is difficult, though.

The UK is a gorgeous country to live in and explore as well. So far, I’ve been able to travel to London, Bath, Wales, Cambridge, the Cotswolds, and Stratford-upon-Avon. In non-COVID times, Europe is only a stone’s throw away. There’s so much to see here, and though I love my home of New Jersey, the UK feels way more exciting…

Reasons to apply

  • The academic programs at the UK universities interest you.
  • You want to be in a lifelong community of amazing people (the Marshall community).
  • You want to meet people from the UK and from all over the world.
  • You would like to explore the UK.
  • You want the resume boost the Marshall Scholarship will provide. (This reason may be less wholesome than the others, but I would remiss to neglect it!)

Reasons not to apply

  • You only care about the prestige of the scholarship, and would be unhappy living and studying in the UK for two years.
  • You don’t meet the eligibility requirements (US citizen, 3.7 GPA minimum, etc.) Check the website to confirm your eligibility.

Is the Marshall Scholarship worth the time opportunity cost?

While you won’t be spending any money to do the Marshall Scholarship, as it covers full educational and living expenses, you could be doing something else with the time you spend studying in the UK, such as working or attending a US medical school or PhD program. Time not working results in lost salary, which is something not many talk about, but which could be worth even more than the cash value of the scholarship (around £38,000 a year, or $105,000 for two years).

The Marshall is a resume boost, but it also won’t make opportunities magically fall into your lap. I’ve applied for plenty of things (internships, graduate programs, jobs, internships) since winning the Marshall and been rejected.

If you don’t want to spend two years in the UK, you could apply to a one-year Marshall. However, there are fewer spots for one-year scholarships, and you will have to write an extra essay on why you only want to do a one-year program.

I think the Marshall is a fascinating life experience that is worth the time put in and the lost salary, but this is up to you to decide.

But I feel like I have no chance of winning!

Here’s some life advice I read on LinkedIn that resonates with me: don’t self-reject!

Don’t stop yourself from applying out of fear of not succeeding. Also, don’t let not attending an elite undergrad institution discourage you. And, don’t let a fellowship adviser talk you out of applying. If anyone is to reject you, let it be the Marshall selection committee or your university nomination board—not yourself! If you don’t apply, you definitely won’t be accepted.

The only thing you lose by applying is time (there is no application fee), but you will indeed need to put quite a lot of time into this application, as it is long and rigorous.

If you are rejected the first time you apply, don’t hesitate to re-apply if you are still interested in pursuing the scholarship. A couple of my classmates were rejected the first time they applied but were accepted the second time.

Finally, this is probably obvious, but don’t put all your eggs in one basket and only apply to ultra-selective fellowships like the Marshall and Rhodes. Apply to other things simultaneously, be they jobs or other graduate programs. Even if you are rejected from all the fellowships, you still want to have an opportunity in hand that excites you.

Application timeline summary

  1. Institutional nomination
    1. Varies by school. Mine was in August-September. Some schools with more formal processes might be much earlier. Check the website or email your fellowship office if in doubt.
  2. Recommendation letters
    1. Due end of September/early October
  3. Essays & application form
    1. Due end of September (Sept. 26 for me)
  4. Interview notification
    1. I got mine on Oct. 30.
    2. For the 2021 selection year, the New York region received 205 applications (from those who had received their university nomination) and selected 23 to interview.
  5. Interview
    1. Mine was November 11.
  6. Final decision
    1. I heard back the same day of my interview; the interviewers called me within 5 hours of my interview being over. I would expect to hear back within a week.
    2. The New York region chose 6 winners out of the 23 interviewees.
  7. Release of news to public
    1. It took around a month for Marshall to release a press release stating who the winners are, as they have to wait until everyone makes the final decision to accept or reject the offer.
  8. Application to first-year university
    1. I submitted mine on Jan. 5.
  9. First-year university decision
    1. My acceptance to the Oxford MSc in CS came on March 2. Most candidates have an interview for this program, but I did not.
  10. Move to UK!
    1. September!

Selecting Academic Programs

Narrowing down programs

A good starting point could be to go on a university ranking site such as Times Higher Education and look into the programs at the top-ranked universities for your field of study—this is what I did. You could also ask professors in your field for advice on which programs in the UK are the best for research.

Things I wish I knew about: PhD/DPhil and MRes

Doing a PhD in the UK

The standard length for a PhD in the UK is three years, although it’s common for it to take four years, and it can occcasionally take as little as two years. This is in contrast to the standard length of a US PhD, at six years.

What should you look for in a program?

My personal opinion is that the Oxbridge experience is so amazing and unique, and that every Marshall should try to do at least one year at Oxbridge.

Logistics/Strategy

There are restrictions for applying to programs in the “Golden Triangle”: Oxford, Cambridge, and London. **As of the 2020 application cycle, applicants for the two-year scholarship could not apply to two different one-year programs in the Golden Triangle, but they could apply to do a single, mutl-year program at any of these schools. On my own application, I proposed doing the MSc in Advanced Computer Science at Oxford and the MSc in Bioinformatics at University of Edinburgh. Both universities and programs had plenty of resources that aligned with my academic and career interests.

The two universities with the biggest Marshall cohorts are Oxford and Cambridge. London also attracts many Marshalls, but they are spread out across multiple universities like ICL, UCL, KCL, LSE, SOAS, and RAM, not all at one school.

My fellowship adviser suggested that it was strategic to put schools on your application outside of the Golden Triangle since Marshall wants to spread the scholars throughout the country. Given that Oxbridge gets the biggest Marshall cohorts, I don’t think it’s necessary, but it might help. Don’t put down a school you don’t actually want to go to, though.

After you win

After you win and begin the scholarship, the choices you wrote on your application are not set in stone. You can change your first-year institution or program by submitting a request to the Marshall administration. Some students in my class changed universities or changed from a Master’s to a PhD/DPhil. Also, once accepted to the scholarship, you need to apply to your first-year institution formally, and while your the chances of your acceptance are high, it is not guaranteed. If you are not accepted, you will need to keep applying to different UK programs until one accepts you.

While there is a restriction on the scholarship application for proposing two programs in the Golden Triangle, no such restriction exists once you are actually doing your Marshall, and you can complete, for example, one year at Oxford and one at Cambridge. You would just need to get this change pre-approved by the Marshall Commission. Indeed, any change from your application’s proposed program would need to be approved, even if it’s at the same university but a different degree. These approvals are not difficult to get though, as long as you’re studying a similar field to what you wrote in your application.

Essay advice

The Marshall application is long and intimidating, so it’s best to start well in advance and take it slowly. I started around a month before the deadline at the end of September, but I’d advise starting earlier. I didn’t work on much else during that month besides the essays.

As of now, I haven’t released my own statements publicly, but Dr. Pierson has kindly released hers on her blog. Hers were the only sample essays I had access to during my application. I did include some specific examples from my own essays below though.

For all the essays, I advise telling your authentic story and writing as clearly as possible. More specific tips for each essay are below.

Personal Statement

One website with fellowship application advice asserts that the personal statement must be like an opera. I’m sure a dramatic, creative personal statement would make an impression and could be very effective, but your statement doesn’t need to be like that. Mine was to-the-point, with no drama, dialogue, or vivid anecdotes. There is no need to tell a heart-wrenching story of hardship. Just convey your authentic truth.

Proposed Program of Study

I didn’t reach out to potential research supervisors before applying or before my interview, but I was asked in my interview if I did, and said no. Because of that, I think it probably would help if you did reach out to professors, but it’s certainly not a requirement to.

Ambassadorial Potential

This one was the hardest for me.

Some people may have studied or worked in the UK before, perhaps on an internship or study abroad, but you don’t need to have done so—I didn’t.

Future Career Goals

For this essay, and in life, think big!

Interview

Congratulations, you’ve been selected for an interview! This alone is an honor you can put on your CV (”Marshall Scholarship Finalist”).

Preparation

Apparently other schools have banks of past Marshall interview questions, but I had access to nothing of the sort. As per usual, the only past questions I had access to were the ones on Emma Pierson’s blog. I’ve shared mine below to add to the bank of available questions.

My fellowship adviser was kind enough to set up two practice interviews for me with panels of Rutgers professors from a variety of fields.

Questions to prepare for

The actual interview

Your interviewers will take turns reading questions to you from a list of questions they have prepared in advance based on your application. Most questions will be asked by your lead interviewer, the person with the background and career most similar to yours. The interviewers might ask you some follow-up questions based on what you say.

All the question I received were related to things I mentioned on my application. I didn’t get any oddball questions, but I know that some applicants do. One of my classmates got a question about cheese.

Conclusion

I hope this guide was helpful! Please drop a comment below if you have any questions.

Further Materials

Relating to me

Some students who reached out to me for scholarship advice told me they found these helpful, so I’m linking them below.

  • Rutgers Today article about me:
  • Interview at my former high school: I didn’t know this interview would be recorded and posted before doing it and hence wore my favorite fluffy blue sweatshirt and not something more formal. But now I’m glad it was posted, so it can help more people!

By others

  • Emma Pierson’s blog post: As an applicant, my favorite online resource was the following: [http://obsessionwithregression.blogspot.com/2015/07/advice-and-sample-essays-for-rhodes.html]. Thanks to Dr. Pierson for this!
  • Video by NY Region Selection Committee: I haven’t watched this video, as it came out after I got the scholarship, but it does have selection committee members on the video, as well as Marshall winners, so I’m sure it has some valuable advice. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rzkexe-DxI]
  • NY Region Selection Committee Chair’s Interview Guide: [https://www.marshallscholarship.org/media/1950/marshall-interview-advice.pdf]