Marshall, Mitchell, and Rhodes Scholarships 2015-16 - Yale Request for Dean’s Report
Notes for Deans
Purpose of a Residential College Dean’s Report
Your candid assessment of a student’s record and suitability for these scholarships is a vital part of the campus endorsement
process. Should you have any questions or concerns, please call me at 203-432-8685. Thank you!

Deans know their students in ways that others on campus may not: your insights into students’ academic records,
extracurricular activities, and character are invaluable to the work of the campus endorsement committee, giving them
information not necessarily evident in other parts of the application, contributing to what your students learn from the
process, and helping materially to strengthen institutional letters for those endorsed to go on to the national competitions.
(I would be very glad to share sample institutional endorsements with you upon request.)

Your report will only be used by the campus committee, and will not be forwarded to the national committees—although
key content will be used in letters of institutional endorsement. (If you are asked to write a letter of reference as part of a
student’s official application, your student should let us know so that we don’t repeat content!)
Content
As the student’s Dean, you may be especially well-placed to comment on qualities sought by these fellowships:
o distinction of intellect and character as evidenced by both scholastic attainments and by other activities/achievements;
o engagement with and service to community, leadership and potential to make a significant contribution to society.
o In short, “excellence in qualities of mind and in qualities of person which, in combination, offer the promise of effective
service to the world in the decades ahead”.

You need not write formal letters of reference: while these are valuable and most gratefully received (especially by the
members of the campus committee who will be drafting letters of institutional endorsement!), briefer, even bulleted,
contributions are also very valuable. On the other hand, you may need to write formal letters for some of these students
on other occasions, and Dean's reports can be useful drafts…

A former Dean and long-time member of this committee suggested that you think of this a report as a brief "user's guide"
that will not only help give readers perspective on the application, but will also help interviewers structure the discussion
and focus it on areas that will produce the most information about the candidate. What can you help us see that academic
references might not?
Practical details

Please note that the US Rhodes has recently changed its rules: this means that applicants may not receive any feedback on
drafts from anyone, and that conversations about “personal goals and Oxford ambitions” should take place before drafts are
begun. The Canadian & other national competitions for the Rhodes, as well as the Mitchell, have followed suit. You may
request that a draft essay be sent to you before you write for one of your students, but you may not comment on it in any
way. (Marshall rules haven’t changed.)

Your students were asked to talk with you before they left campus at the end of the spring term, and they are required to
have requested a Dean’s Report by August 4, 2015, in order to be eligible to apply for Yale’s endorsement.

When and how to submit a Dean’s report: if possible, please upload your report into the Yale Student Grants Database by
August 20, 2015. Since Deans are very busy then, you automatically get an extension: whatever reaches us by September
3rd will be forwarded to the committee in time for campus interviews. (Though students must meet the campus application
deadline on the 20th, you will still be able to upload reports into the Student Grants Database after that date, or may email
them to katherine.dailinger@yale.edu).

Only one version of this report is needed, even if your student is applying for two or three fellowships.
Thank you for your invaluable contribution, especially at such a difficult season! Should you have any queries, or
wish to talk things over with me at any stage, please just telephone 203-432-8685 or email
katherine.dailinger@yale.edu.
Sincerely,
Kate
Katherine A. Dailinger, Director for National Fellowships, Yale Center for International & Professional Experience
—telephone 203-432-8685, email katherine.dailinger@yale.edu