Requirements

College/School Eligibility:

  • Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • Brooks School of Public Policy
  • Architecture, Art and Planning
  • Arts and Sciences
  • Bowers CIS
  • Engineering
  • Human Ecology
  • Industrial and Labor Relations
  • SC Johnson Business - Dyson
  • SC Johnson Business - Hotel
  • SC Johnson Business - Johnson

Class Year Eligibility:

  • Fourth Year + (undergrad)

Open to:

  • Cornell Undergraduate Students

Cornell endorsement is required.

The Keasbey Scholarship will be offered in fall 2026.

 

Marguerite Keasbey established the Henry Griffith Keasbey and Anna Griffith Keasbey Memorial Foundation in 1953 to honor her parents. In the interest of promoting Anglo-American relations and providing Americans with an opportunity to experience the British educational system, the Keasbey Memorial Foundation awards scholarships annually to support one or two years of postgraduate study (depending on the duration of the degree course for which application is made) at the universities of Oxford, Cambridge, or Edinburgh.

 

Cornell is one of a select group of American institutions invited every three years to nominate candidates to the national competition. In the autumn of 2025, Cornell is invited to nominate two members of the class of 2026 for the Keasbey, for study beginning in 2026-27 Nominees will be invited for interviews via Zoom by the Trustees of the Keasbey Foundation in December, and it is expected that two Scholars will be named for study in Britain beginning in 2026-27.

 

The Keasbey Scholarship award consists of a direct payment to the British institution involved to cover tuition and other fixed charges, a cost of living stipend paid to the Scholar to cover board, lodging, and general subsistence, and an allowance for travel between the United States and Great Britain. The stipend is approximately equal to that of the Rhodes Scholarship. 


Application Information:

Interested Cornell applicants, after doing some research of their own, may refer questions to the Office of Fellowships (meetings by appointment). We are glad to advise applicants on the choice of recommenders, essays, and other application strategies. Candidates must submit all application materials, including letters of recommendation, by the Cornell endorsement deadline in early September 2026.

 

Applications for Cornell's nomination for the Keasbey must be submitted before the campus application deadline.

 

The Keasbey application entails:

  • a brief synopsis of the proposed course of study in Britain
  • a brief synopsis of the applicant's proposed postgraduate/career plans
  • a statement of proposed study, showing its relationship to undergraduate study/research and career objectives in addition to personal goals (2 pages max - find advice on tackling essays for UK fellowships at the foot of the page of Fellowships advice about writing for external awards)
  • a résumé (2 pages max)
  • Three letters of reference, normally from faculty in a field or fields relevant to the applicant's proposed postgraduate degree program.
  • Transcripts: For the initial campus competition, unofficial Cornell transcripts will suffice. However, for the ensuing national competition, each nominee must request an official transcript from the Cornell Registrar. A transcript must also be requested from any other institution attended for post-secondary studies (to be sent directly to the Fellowships office, to arrive by the end of October). Only one official copy of each transcript is required.

Also:

Applicants for the Keasbey must apply to the British university for the degree course of their choice by the application deadline for that course or by early December and the Keasbey finalist interviews, whichever comes first. (Like the Rhodes, the Keasbey would support either a graduate degree or, in the case of Oxford or Cambridge, a second bachelor's degree in two years, sometimes called an affiliated degree.)
Special Eligibility Requirements:

The qualities the Keasbey Foundation expects in applicants are academic excellence, active participation in extracurricular activities, leadership abilities, and personal promise.

Eligible to apply for nomination every three years are graduating seniors who are US citizens. Cornell students will be eligible to apply again the fall of 2026.
 

Restrictions to Use of Award:

A Keasbey Scholar may not hold another scholarship, such as a Rhodes or Marshall, or a Cornell fellowship.

The Keasbey Scholarship may not be deferred or interrupted.
 

Contact Information:

For questions about this application, please contact Clare Jones at ckj23@cornell.edu.