The Oxford One-Form Pack

This is the pack behind the SCHOLAR video, from the Rekoja desk in Lagos. The Oxford Clarendon scholarship covers your course fees and gives you a grant for living expenses, and there is no separate scholarship form: Oxford's own page, read on 3 October 2026, states that you are considered automatically when you apply for your graduate course by the December or January deadline printed on that course's page. Nobody can promise a scholarship, including us. Below is the route in the order it actually happens, with the fee, the calendar and the messages you need to send this week.

Which of these is you

• I want to know exactly what Clarendon pays
• I am ready to apply and I want the steps
• I want to know what applying costs me
• I have ten weeks and I want them laid out
• Oxford has already said no

The prize, full fees and a living grant

Clarendon covers course fees and gives a grant for living expenses for the length of your course. There are no limits on nationality and no limits on subject, and all full-time and part-time master's and DPhil courses are eligible. You do not apply for it separately. You are considered automatically when your course application is in by the December or January deadline that applies to that course. Source: University of Oxford, Clarendon Fund.

That single sentence is the whole point of this pack. The form people search for, the "Clarendon application form", does not exist. The course application is the scholarship application.

Who it fits, and who it does not

It fits a graduate with a strong result who meets the entry requirement printed on the chosen course page. Clarendon is chosen on academic merit, so a weak result against that course requirement is the main disqualifier.

It does not fit you this round if you apply after your course's December or January deadline. A late application can still win you a place on the course, and it removes you from funding consideration all the same.

The five steps

1. Find your course in the Oxford graduate course list. Read its entry requirement before anything else, because that requirement decides whether the rest is worth your ten weeks.
2. Write down its deadline, the December or January one on the course page. That date decides funding.
3. Create your application account today. You can save your work and return to it.
4. Call your referees first. Oxford emails them directly, and a missing reference leaves your application incomplete.
5. Request your transcript and prepare the documents your course page lists.

How to apply, step by step

This is the part people pay agents for, and it is yours to do.

1. Open your course's own page in Oxford's graduate course list. Every requirement that follows is set by that page, not by a general rule: the entry requirement, the deadline, the documents, the word count of the statement, and whether written work or an English test is asked for.
2. Create your application account in your own name, with your own email address and your own password. Never let anybody create it with their email. The form saves, so you can start tonight and finish in three weeks.
3. Enter your details exactly as they appear on your passport and on your transcript. A name that differs between the form and the documents is a correction you do not want to be making in deadline week.
4. Add your referees early. Oxford emails the reference request to them directly, so the people you name have to be warned, briefed and reminded. The reference is the one part of your application that somebody else has to finish.
5. Request your transcript now and upload every document the course page lists, in the format that page asks for.
6. Pay the application fee and submit before your course's December or January deadline. Submit at least five days early: websites slow down on deadline day, and funding consideration turns on the date your application is in, not the date you started it.

Your 10-week calendar

Counted back from a January deadline.

The statement, paragraph by paragraph

1. The problem you care about, in one concrete scene from your own work or study. Not "since I was a child".
2. What you have already done about it: your project, your result, your job. Evidence, not adjectives.
3. Why this exact course: name two things on the course page that you need and cannot get elsewhere.
4. What you will do after: one specific plan, in a real place.
5. One line on why now.

Use the exact questions and the exact length printed on your course page. They differ by course, and the course page wins over any advice, including ours.

The messages to copy and send

To your lecturer, this week.

"Good morning Sir/Ma. I am applying to the University of Oxford for [course]. Oxford will email you a link for a reference. My deadline is [date]. May I ask if you can submit it by [date, two weeks earlier]? I have attached my CV and transcript to make it easier. Thank you very much."

The reminder, in week 8.

"Good morning Sir/Ma. A gentle reminder about my Oxford reference, due on [date]. The link from Oxford may be in your spam folder. Please tell me if I should ask them to send it again. Thank you for your time."

Five mistakes that sink strong applications

1. Applying in the later round and missing the funding deadline.
2. A reference that arrives late.
3. A statement about how great Oxford is, when it should be about your work.
4. Choosing a course your first degree does not prepare you for.
5. Paying somebody to "process" a form you can fill yourself.

If Oxford says no

The same statement, transcript and references carry you into the other funded windows we track, and the work you did in these ten weeks is not wasted on one university. This month's list of open doors is in this week's openings, and the longer windows, with what each one pays and what it judges, are in the funded calendar pack.

What it costs, in naira

Nigeria is not on Oxford's list of countries whose residents have the application fee removed, so budget the fee for the course you choose. Sources: University of Oxford, application fee and the fee waiver list.

Questions people ask

Where is the Clarendon application form? There is none. Oxford considers you for Clarendon automatically when you apply for your graduate course by the December or January deadline printed on that course's page, as its funding page stated on 3 October 2026.

Does Clarendon pay living costs or only fees? Both. It covers course fees and gives a grant for living expenses for the length of your course.

Is my subject eligible? There is no restriction on field of study, and all full-time and part-time master's and DPhil courses are eligible. Your course page still sets its own entry requirement.

What does it cost a Nigerian to apply? £75 for a taught course (about ₦133,000) and £20 for a research course (about ₦36,000), at the rate of 3 October 2026. Nigeria is not on Oxford's fee waiver list.

Can anybody guarantee me the scholarship? No. Clarendon is awarded on academic merit and it is very competitive. Nobody can promise it, including us, and anybody selling you a "Clarendon form" or a "slot" is selling you something that does not exist.

Want us to do it for you?

You already know this is your route, and you do not need another test.

Rekoja prepares the file with you, starting from your documents rather than from zero. We edit the statement against the questions your course page actually asks, brief your referees so their letters match your story, and put the documents in the order Oxford reads them. Then we tell you plainly where the file is weak while there is still time to fix it. When an offer lands, we prepare the student visa that follows it. Tell us on the form that you came from this pack.

Advice and preparation are delivered by Rekoja Nigeria Limited from Lagos. Nobody can promise a scholarship or an admission, including us. What you control is a complete application, in by the right date.

Naira figures on this page use the rates of 3 October 2026 (GBP ₦1,778, EUR ₦1,513, CAD ₦943, USD ₦1,344), rounded. Only immigration authorities decide applications.