Benefits of Studying at Corpus
Being a Corpus student carries with it a number of benefits and opportunities, and these enrich the lives of our members while they are studying at Oxford University.
Prizes, scholarships and exhibitions
The College awards a large number of prizes, scholarships and exhibitions to students whose academic achievements are particularly impressive. Any student who comes in the top 5% of their first public examination is eligible for a Fox prize, named after the founder and worth £500. Students who get Firsts or Distinctions in any examination before their Finals, or whose work is outstandingly impressive in other ways, are eligible for scholarships, valued at £200, and offering enhanced opportunities for study in the vacations. Those whose work is coming on strongly and are at the threshold of first-class achievement may be awarded exhibitions, of £100 plus extra vacation grants. We hold an annual dinner to celebrate the attainments of our scholars and exhibitioners, of whom there are currently 74, 31% of the undergraduate body; a special guest speaks after dinner, and students get to join other leading academic guests at their tables.
Vacation residence grants
The College supports study in the vacations by allowing each student 14 days' free residence out of term each year. Scholars and exhibitioners are allowed 28 and 21 days, respectively, and other students may receive larger grants on application to the Senior Tutor. We try to be as flexible as we can in allowing students to come up for longer periods at their own expense.
Travel grants
Corpus undergraduates are able to apply for up to £250 every two years to support the costs of intellectually valuable travel. In recent years, grants have been made to students visiting Greece and Rome to see sites of classical importance, to people making research trips to Scotland, Ireland and Liverpool (in pursuit of Scottish unionism, the haunts of W. B. Yeats, and the works of Adrian Henri, respectively), to medical students who worked with drug addicts in Madrid and HIV sufferers in Lesotho, to a history student working on the lives of workers in rural Spain, to a physicist attending an international summer school in Germany, and to materials students gaining work experience all over the world.
Students are asked to write a short report on their experiences; extracts from some of these are presented here.
Book and equipment grants
All our undergraduate students are able to apply for help with the cost of their books and/or scientific equipment, up to a total of £100.
President's seminars
Every term, the President arranges a seminar, at which prominent figures from different walks of life come and discuss issues of interest and importance. There is an open talk, with questions, and then a smaller dinner, with more questions and discussion, for interested students and fellows.
Recent visitors have included Martin Wolf (the financial commentator and associate editor of the Financial Times), Xenia Dormandy (an analyst of US affairs at Chatham House), Rupert Elderkin (member of the prosecuting team at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), and Hector Sants (Chief Executive of the Financial Services Authority). All are Corpus alumni.
Financial Support
Should you suffer financial hardship, the College's Maintenance Committee regularly gives grants to students to help alleviate the problem. More information can be found under Student Support.
