— Ayan Gupta

After finishing high school at Amity International School, Gurugram in 2019, I graduated with a BA LLB (Hons) from National Law University Delhi in 2024. My father is a practising neurosurgeon and my mother used to teach up until my early teens.

The decision to study law at Oxford University was not part of my plans. As my school friends were opting for it, and since I share interests with them in subjects such as history and political science, I applied for it. Once there, I slowly began enjoying the process of becoming a lawyer.

A key change came in when I started interning for Project39A, where I worked on a project tracking bail decisions passed by trial courts in Delhi over a select period. This engagement with law and empirical realities for the first time opened my mind to the gap that exists between the law’s promises and its ground realities. This gap was quite transformative in how I think about my role as a lawyer and what I wish to do with my legal education.

The application was in four stages. It starts with a written round and then there are three rounds of interviews. The written round happened in June 2023. We had to submit three things: CV, personal statement, and academic statement. The Rhodes Scholarship has certain specific prompts that they want you to discuss, largely asking you as to why you meet the criteria to be a Rhodes scholar. You need to give a sense of what your story is, and why it is leading you to Oxford and the Rhodes Scholarship. The academic statement is about 350 words. It is aimed at addressing what courses you want to study at Oxford and why.

After the written round, there was about a two-month long wait before we were invited to the first interview, and from there on, it was three interviews back-to-back. The first two tend to happen online.

The first interview is deeper. Not in the sense that they are testing you on your knowledge of the law, but they are trying to look at what opinions you hold in your interest areas. For instance, what issues do you think are important in criminal justice, and what do you think about those issues? In my case it was what I think about the death penalty. They are trying to look at whether you have thought about these issues, what is it exactly that you care about, and what are the ways in which you have thought about these things.

The second interview can really differ for people. For me, it was sort of a continuation of the first interview in the sense that the questions were centred around my work and my areas of interest, with some prodding on why the Rhodes Scholarship. But I have heard from other scholars that for some of them, the second interview was more personality based, with questions about why they think they meet the criteria, and what they interpret the criteria to be. I would like to mention here that there is no one reading of the criteria. It is rather broad, and everyone has their own takes on how they interpret the criteria and how they meet it.

Then the final interview happened in-person in Bengaluru. This was the most interesting stage because it happens in two stages. A day before the interview, there was a dinner that was hosted by the Rhodes Trust and the Rhodes India National Secretary for all the finalists. So there were 13 of us in total, including me. The dinner also has the jury members, which is a 10-member interview panel. The idea behind the dinner is that we interact with other finalists, but also with the interview panel, so you get to know them a little bit and you are a little less intimidated the next day when you go to the interview. You also end up making friends with the other finalists. As much as your instinct tells you, the dinner is really just meant to get you a little bit relaxed and have you talk to the other finalists. It is not some opportunity to impress the interview panels, and I do not think that it will go well if one treats it that way.

The final interview was a mix of questions about why I think I meet the scholarship criteria, and what my future plans are. After a six to seven hour wait, they call all the finalists back to the room and announce the results.

My first day in Oxford was quite uneventful. I spent the day shopping for essentials, setting up my room, and other chores. That said, the city is truly breathtaking. I could not help but be awed by the magnificent buildings. I have had an absolutely fantastic time in the city, everyone has been warm and welcoming.

I am an introverted, so Oxford’s collegiate environment was challenging at first, given how significantly it is based on socialising with other students, faculty members was a little overwhelming. That said, the University is structured in a way that there’s almost always something going on, and you learn to appreciate the joy of missing out instead of the fear of it.

The staff at the Rhodes House guided us in the smallest of the doubts. There were senior scholars there to welcome us on the first night, which was great especially as I was particularly clueless about the city.

A typical day involves a significant amount of reading. The teaching at the law faculty is structured around seminars (a small class of 10-20 people) where pre assigned readings are discussed in depth and tutorial (an even smaller class of 1-3 people) where all students submit a written work which is then discussed with the instructor. These methods of teaching make for a fairly demanding reading and study schedule. Nonetheless, I try to spend some of my time enjoying Oxford’s sights, cafes, and parties.

My experience at the Oxford University differs from my experience in India both in terms of the rigor (it is a lot more demanding than my UG education) and structurally too. Also, there are no lectures, for starters — not mandatory ones at least. Overall, the more academic focus of the course and the general focus on research and methodology of the law are key differences.

(This letter is part of a series by The Indian Express where we bring to you the experiences of students at different foreign universities. From scholarships and loans to food and cultural experiences — students tell us how life is different in those countries and things they are learning other than academics)