Being rejected for the Rhodes Scholarship changed my life for the better 

Great channel Lamia and massive respect to you for using your experience to inspire others. That is the epitome of servant leadership. I am a Mandela Rhodes scholar from Zimbabwe (2016) and I’m happy to inform your audience that there’s another way to getting to Oxford (or the UK in general) via the Mandela Rhodes scholarship. I’m gonna leave a long blurb below which, hopefully, can become a resource to someone who might want to take this route. If you don’t want to read everything, point 3 has the summary of how you can study at Oxford for a PhD exclusively as a Mandela Rhodes scholar First, I’ll start by saying the Mandela Rhodes scholarship is an international prestigious scholarship which offers everything that the Rhodes scholarship offers, (minus Oxford) Plus a tailored leadership program. So by becoming a Mandela Rhodes scholar, one already has a great privilege/advantage of carrying these two powerful albeit conflicting names (the conflict being an inherent topic of conversation during the leadership camps). Second, some Mandela Rhodes scholars have gone to become Rhodes scholars. I believe that being a Mandela Rhodes scholar already sets one apart & increases one’s chance/probability of becoming a Rhodes scholar. Fun fact, Mandela Rhodes scholars who go on to study at Oxford, & by virtue of being an MR scholar, have access to Rhodes house and some of the talks & networking sessions that are available to Rhodes scholars :) Some MR scholars I know, who were unsuccessful with the Rhodes scholarship, have gone on to study at Oxford and Cambridge via the Weidenfeld, Chevening, Gates-Cambridge scholarships etc as Laima already mentioned. Third, and probably most important to the present conversation, there’s a way to study at Oxford (or the UK in general) via the Shaun Johnson memorial scholarship which is exclusively available to Mandela Rhodes scholars towards attaining a PhD in the UK. So that would basically mean becoming a Mandela Rhodes scholar first then competing for the SJM scholarship. That competing with less that 1000 people (not many people want to do a PhD at one particular point in MRF so an even smaller pool!) Finally, it is true that Oxford is not the only option. I have a friend who got into Oxford but got a scholarship at Edinburgh where she had an epic experience. I got into Oxford but couldn’t get funding; but I got funding for my nearly complete PhD. In retrospect, whilst it would have been nice to be at Oxford, the path I’ve found myself in has given me many many opportunities which I probably wouldn’t have gotten had I studied in the UK. I hope this helps and wish you all great success!

If you do not apply, there is a zero chance of acceptance. If you apply, there is a small non-zero finite chance of acceptance.

Wow😊. My friend just shared this with me after I publicly announced that it's one of my achievements that I find it hard to talk about. I'm a Rhodes scholarship finalist in Kenya for this year😊

This is an eye-opener. Thank you

So inspiring, thank you for your AMAZING job Lamia 💛

This is such inspiring content! Love to see it! Great video Lamia!😍😍😍

You have such an inspiring outlook on life!

Thanks. This inspired me so much.

Love this new video! The framing and the music add so much ☺️ keep it up Lamia!!!!

thank you a ton, I'm a senior in high school getting ready for it and i will take your advice to heart

Needed this inspiration 🌹

This is so inspiring Lamia. I could relate to everything you spoke about. Keep the good work.

I'm so glad to have come across your channel! I've so much respect for you. I mean, it's so amazing that you're out here helping people out with their Rhodes Journey. May Allah SWT bless you always!

Thank you for the reminder on tawakkul

I love this video, let me also go back to comment on the other video

Yeah I agree. I no longer support elite schools that are riddled with classism and racism and both intersectional as well. I will gladly stay at my local community college that is convenient, free, diverse of all ages and races and the professors are there for the students rather than just doing research and publishing books

Love from Pakistan.

I'm just starting the video, hoping they won't put some personal growth thing above the fact my country is trying to kill me and I can't escape from here without a scholarship

Pls how can I contact you?