Keasbey Memorial Scholarship

How to apply

Overview

Description

The Keasbey Memorial Foundation Scholarship (pronounced kays-bee) is a private scholarship supporting graduate study in the UK. As stated on the Foundation’s webpage, “American students who receive a Keasbey fellowship are awarded up to two years of full funding, including tuition, fees and living expenses, either to read for a second undergraduate degree or to attend a graduate program at one of the universities with which the Keasbey Foundation is affiliated in the UK.” Which US schools are eligible to nominate candidates for the Keasbey rotates by year, such that Wesleyan is able to nominate rising seniors during certain years. We will know for sure which year we are eligible to nominate in during April of the prior year. During the years that we are able to nominate students, our candidates compete with nominees from the other nominating schools, travelling to Philadelphia to interview with the Foundation’s selectors in mid-December. We can nominate two people in any given year that we nominate. The current nomination year is AY 2026-2027, so members of the class of 2027 can consider applying for the Keasbey Scholarship.

Award

The Foundation will pay directly to the educational institution involved the Scholar’s fixed charges for tuition and fees. The Scholar will receive a living stipend from which to pay the college charges for board and lodging, travel to and from the United States, and general subsistence in Europe. The amount of the current stipend is announced upon selection (the Keasbey Memorial Foundation states that the amount will be approximately equal to the Rhodes stipend).

Eligibility

• Applicants for a Keasbey Scholarship must be a citizen of the United States and must be a member of the graduating class of his or her college or university at the time the scholarship is awarded (they must be a rising senior while applying).
• The Scholar must be planning to enroll as a full-time student in the UK at one of the institutions named as a partner during the application cycle. For 2027, the eligible UK schools are Oxford, Cambridge and the University of Edinburgh. 

Selection Criteria

The successful candidate will demonstrate academic excellence, active participation in extracurricular activities, leadership abilities, and the promise of personally and intellectually benefiting from one or two years of study in Britain.

Other Important Rules

• The Scholar may not have another scholarship, such as a Rhodes, Marshall, Mellon or a fellowship grant for foreign study from his or her own college.
• The Keasbey Scholarship may not be deferred or interrupted.
• If you are selected for Keasbey, it is the expectation that you will not decline the award for any reason. The future participation of Wesleyan students in the Keasbey competition requires that those nominated for the Keasbey award take up the award if selected, so prospective applicants should consider closely whether the degree program they plan to propose for a Keasbey Scholarship really is their top choice.
• At the time of the interview in Philadelphia, Keasbey nominees should have already have applied to the undergraduate or graduate programs they propose to attend and be knowledgeable about the college to which they have applied within that university.
  • Two notes from the Keasbey Memorial Scholarship Foundation on applying to the graduate program:
    • "Each nominee is responsible for applying to the graduate or undergraduate program at Oxford, Cambridge or the University of Edinburgh for which he or she is seeking support. Nominees should carefully select their programs. In recent years, competition for the Oxford and Cambridge graduate programs, in particular, has grown more intense. It has become more important for American students to apply to Oxford and Cambridge early and to establish contacts with potential advisors and graduate directors through phone calls and emails. In some cases, it may make sense for students to apply to at least two different programs at the same time. Oxford and Cambridge allow this practice. It has been our experience that, at the time they interview with us, the strongest Keasbey applicants already have applied to the undergraduate or graduate programs they propose to attend."
    • "The Keasbey Foundation will support the education of our scholars in Britain for up to two years. But we would urge nominee[s] to consider carefully whether their proposed course of study is more appropriate for a one-year program than for a two-year program. Many M.Phil and M.St programs are now one-year programs, and, in the opinion of many Oxford and Cambridge officials, reading for a second M.Phil or M.St may not represent time well spent. Nominees may also apply to study for a second B.A. degree."

Application Components

National Deadline

The application components for the national deadline are as follows:

• A curriculum vitae (cv)
• An official transcript of the nominees academic grades for the first three years of their undergraduate degree
• A two page, single spaced typewritten statement from the nominee summarizing the areas of the nominee's major academic interest and the course of study proposed to be taken in Great Britain.
• Three letters of recommendation from faculty members with whom the nominee has worked closely saying, in substance, that the candidate is believed to be capable of academic work which should result in the nominee’s obtaining a good Honors degree in his or her field of interest.
• A nomination letter from a senor administrative official at the university

Campus Deadline

Because we make Keasbey nominations at the same time as other UK scholarships (late August), the full application is not required at the campus deadline. Instead, only the following components are required at the campus deadline:

• Completed Statement of Intention form
• Curriculum vitae (cv)
• Unofficial transcript
• A draft academic statement, following the description provided by the Keasbey Memorial Scholarship Foundation: "A two page, single spaced typewritten statement from the nominee summarizing the areas of the nominee's major academic interest and the course of study proposed to be taken in Great Britain."

Letters of recommendation are accepted (and will be an asset to your application we have a competitive field at Wesleyan that year) but are not required at the campus deadline, given how early the deadline is compared to the national deadline. If you can reach out to your recommenders 4-8 weeks before the deadline (by mid-July at the latest), it is suggested to include letters of recommendation. If you start your application later than mid-July, seeking letters may not the best choice.

How to Apply

First Steps

1. Read carefully the information on this page. Consider whether you are a match for the selection criteria and whether you can truly commit to Keasbey as your top choice.
2. Read about postgraduate degree names and abbreviations in the UK.
3. Research programs at the eligible univerisities in the UK. Use the university's websites to do this, and speak with your faculty mentors at Wesleyan about options that might make sense for you in the UK.
4. Once you have determined which programs are of interest to you, write to fellowships@wesleyan.edu or book an initial appointment to talk about your interest in applying for the Keasbey Scholarship. Expressions of interest are due by the end of June of the year in which you will apply for the scholarship. 

Before the Campus Deadline

1. Draft your application materials and review them with the Office of Fellowships well in advance of the campus deadline, ideally by the first week of August.
2. If you are far enough along to request your letters of recommendation in advance of the campus deadline, do so 4-8 weeks ahead of the campus deadline (your recommenders should email their letters to the Associate Director for Fellowships directly as PDF attachments). Sending letters for the campus deadline is recommended, but not required.
3. Submit your application as a single PDF by email to fellowships@wesleyan.edu by the campus deadline.
4. We will hold campus interviews for the Keasbey within a week of the campus deadline. Nomination decisions will follow shortly thereafter.

After Nomination and Before the National Deadline

1. If you are nominated at the campus level, reach out right away to your recommenders for their letters.
2. Meet with Associate Director for Fellowships to review your draft and discuss the revisions to be completed before the national deadline.
3. Submit your application at least 24 hours in advance of the national deadline or by the date communicated to you by the Associate Director for Fellowships.

After the National Deadline

1. Look for communications from the Office of Fellowships about setting up a mock interview on campus in November.
2. Attend your mock interview and debrief session.
3. Attend the Keasbey interview in Philadelphia in mid-December.
4. Fill out the interview debrief form when you are finished your interview (ideally, same day!).
5. Await the selection decisions.
6. If you are selected, begin your program of study in the UK in fall following your graduation from Wesleyan.