Scholarships & Studentships

Professor John Anthony Crook (1921 – 2007) was a Fellow of St John’s for more than fifty years. His door was ever-open to generations of undergraduate and graduate students for whom he seemed to have so much time to spare and to whom he offered so much valued support and advice.

Professor Crook came up to St John’s from South London on a Scholarship in 1939, being the only child of  parents of modest means. After exemplary war service, Professor Crook reached the top of his chosen academic profession as Professor of Ancient History at Cambridge University. He was a world expert on Roman Law and Legal Practices and taught Greek and Latin language to classics scholars.

A donor has offered full funding for a new scholarship to be awarded in John Crook’s name and memory, which reflects the spirit of his achievements and which sets out to offer opportunities at St John’s to gifted students from similar backgrounds.  The first John Crook Scholarship award was made in 2010 to Elizabeth Monaghan, an honours graduate in English from the Open University.

In line with the Benefactor’s criteria, this scholarship is awarded to a British Citizen who is a graduate of a British University on the list of those eligible for the scheme. The successful candidate will have an exceptional academic record and will be the first in his/her family to attend university. Candidates will normally be completing or have completed a full-time three/four year Honours Degree course, at an exceptionally high standard.

The John Crook Scholar will be admitted to St John’s College, Cambridge to study for a second Bachelor’s Degree in the arts or humanities (excluding law or theological studies), or the Degree of Master of Advanced Studies in mathematics or science subjects. Other options may be available for an appropriately qualified candidate. The award will be for up to two years (depending on the course), and will comprise a maintenance grant at the rate of at least £10,000 per annum plus payment of approved College and University fees.

Application forms can be downloaded below, or may be obtained from the John Crook Scholarship administrator, in the Tutorial Office at St John’s College.

Completed applications forms must be received by 1 November 2012 for admission in October 2013.

The Benefactor writes:

'Fifty years ago I sent three letters, blind, addressed to the Senior Tutors at Balliol, Trinity and St John's, enclosing an essay I had written and asking for a place. I knew neither the Tutors names nor their proper addresses.

J A Crook replied for John's, offering a place and an apology: I am sorry that this answer has been long in coming, and I hope it is not too late. That offer opened a casement on a world I could not conceive and transformed my life.

But that is not why I pay him homage, nor is it for his help after he learned I was married, when he could, with reason, have withdrawn his offer, nor for the College funds he supplied when I ran short. What I and others loved was his unflagging kindness to once and present charges, his humility, and affection for the College.

I will not forget his offering letter’s apology, which etiquette did not require, to a brash aspirant he did not know. I recall how, old and frail, he spent an afternoon showing my teenage daughter and her friend around Cambridge, spending time and breath, at his urging, not mine, when he had not much of either left. Many can testify to how he greeted proposals to honour him with horror, and squelched them all.

Now he is gone, we are free to praise him.'

Attachments

Please note that (with the occasional exception for truly outstanding applicants) a scholar will only be selected every second year.

There will be a Competition for the academic year 2014/15:-

Those eligible for consideration for funding from the Bradlow Foundation are South African nationals who

(a)  have applied to the University of Cambridge to read for a PhD degree from the 
      academic year 2014/15;

(b)  have listed St. John’s College as their first choice college on the Graduate Application 
       Form provided by the University's Graduate Admissions Office (formerly known as the Board of Graduate Studies);

(c)  have received a conditional offer of a graduate place from St John’s College by 31 
      May 2014;

(d)  are still under 30 years of age on that date.

Please note that the Board of Graduate Studies, St John’s College and the Bradlow Foundation do not provide a separate form of application for the Competition.

Applicants should not apply direct to the Foundation.  St John’s College will (after 31 May 2014) forward the papers of suitable applicants to the Foundation. The Bradlow Foundation will then contact applicants direct if they wish to consider them in the Scholarship Competition.

For further information about the Dr Manmohan Singh Scholarships Competition for Indian Nationals to undertake doctoral study at St John's please refer to the British Council website.

St John’s College Cambridge proposes to award a Luisa Aldobrandini Studentship to enable a student from one of the Universities of Rome to undertake postgraduate study in the University of Cambridge commencing in October 2014.  The successful applicant will be selected from those who have obtained a place at St John’s College Cambridge to read for the M Phil or PhD degree.

To be eligible for the Studentship to be awarded from October 2014, a candidate must have obtained or obtain the Laurea from one of  Universities in Rome (Università degli Studi di Roma ‘La Sapienza’, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Tor Vergata’, Università degli Studi di Roma ‘Roma III’ and Libera Università Internazionale degli Studi Sociali Guido Carli in Roma ) between 1^st October 2012 and 1^st October 2014.

The Studentship will be tenable for the duration of the student’s course up to a maximum of three years and will comprise (a) a maintenance grant of at least £10,500 per annum and (b) approved College and University fees. The value of any Studentship awarded will be reduced appropriately to take account of any payment from other sources.

There is no separate application form for this Studentship. Candidates should apply to the University of Cambridge through the University’s Graduate Admissions Office (formerly known as the Board of Graduate Studies) for admission as a graduate student, specifying St John’s as their first choice of College.  The University no longer issues a hard copy of the Graduate Studies Prospectus.  Information on how to apply can instead be viewed on the Graduate Admissions Office website at www.admin.cam.ac.uk/offices/gradstud.  The papers of those who are accepted by the relevant University department will be passed on to St John’s who will then consider the candidate for a place in the College. All eligible candidates who by May 1^st 2014 have been made a conditional offer by St John’s to read for the MPhil or PhD degree starting in October 2014 will be considered for the Luisa Aldobrandini Studentship.  The successful candidate will be notified by the end of June 2014.

In view of the delays that can occur as a result of sometimes lengthy selection processes in the University departments, applicants are advised to apply to the University's Graduate Admissions Office no later than 31^st December 2013 (unless an earlier deadline for their course is specified on the Board's website).  

In April the College proposes to elect a graduate student studying Archaeology or Philosophy to the Paskin Scholarship, tenable from October.

Eligibility 
(i) members of the College engaged in study which will count towards the requirements of the PhD degree in 
          Archaeology or Philosophy;
(ii) applicants to the College for admission:
    (a) as Graduate Students intending to register as candidates for the PhD degree in 
         Archaeology or Philosophy;
    (b) as Graduate Students for the MPhil degree in Archaeology or Philosophy.

The Paskin Scholarship is administered as part of our Benefactors' Scholarships Scheme. Value of Scholarships, Tenure and Application details can be found below.