The making of an Oxford scholar

Most people who get into Oxford spend years planning for it. Samia Islam Anika was not one of them. She took the GRE in December and earned a perfect score in the quantitative section. Realising her score exceeded Oxford's benchmark, she applied. She spent just two days writing her statement of purpose. 

She applied to four universities, none of them part of a long-term plan, and was accepted by all of them. In fact, Oxford offered her a full scholarship.

It might sound like a magical journey, but behind that lay years of hard work and dedication.

Economics from a science background

Samia came from a science background, but she was never one to follow the conventional path. 

"I never liked the idea of accepting and doing things that society expected us to do," she said, admitting that she had always had a tendency to avoid doing what everyone else was doing.

She loved mathematics, but engineering did not feel like the right fit. Her parents, like many others in Bangladesh, hoped she would pursue medicine. But she had different dreams. What she truly loved was reading newspapers and books. She was drawn to social issues. And because she also enjoyed mathematics, economics—"the subject that heavily incorporates mathematics into the social sciences"—felt like the perfect choice.

She credits her family for giving her the freedom to make that decision. "My parents always expressed what they wanted, but they were never strict in the traditional sense. So I had the freedom to choose what I wanted to do. I feel like your family's support matters a lot."

Building the profile

Samia did not have a fixed, foolproof plan. What she did have was one clear idea: she wanted to pursue a career in academia, and if she was going to do it, she was going somewhere worth going.

"I always thought I would pursue higher studies. But not just because I needed to. I wanted to study at a good institution in a good programme."

That single decision shaped everything else. Whenever opportunities came her way during her undergraduate years, she evaluated them through one simple filter: Would this teach me research, or would it add something meaningful to my profile?

"When you make decisions like this consistently, eventually everything aligns."

Her research portfolio grew steadily throughout her time at Jahangirnagar University. One paper, co-authored with her teachers, was published in the university's economics journal. Another was a conference paper that she presented at a conference by the South Asian Network on Economic Modeling (SANEM), where she was both the first author and the presenter. Several other research projects were also underway.

When the time came to apply, she submitted that conference paper as her writing sample. Her reasoning was simple: "It says more about who I am and my interests. Since it's my own work, I felt much more confident submitting it."

The application process

After receiving her GRE results—and an outstanding score—her teachers encouraged her to apply for a PhD, even though that had not been her original plan. She had initially intended to pursue a master's degree. So, she began looking for programmes whose application deadlines were still open.

Oxford's website listed its competitive GRE benchmarks: 165 in the quantitative section and 160 in the verbal section. She had exceeded both.

"When I got my score, it immediately occurred to me that I had scored higher than Oxford's average requirement, so I could definitely aim for it."

She wrote her statement of purpose in just two days. She spent one night researching and another writing. But what made it work, she said, was that she wrote it entirely from scratch and tailored it specifically to Oxford's MPhil-DPhil programme. She carefully studied what the programme offered, identified the prerequisites listed on the website, and made sure her SOP addressed each of them directly.

"I researched and figured out what they were going to teach in this particular programme. Then I tried to show how those aligned with my goals and why I needed to learn them."

Besides Oxford, she applied to three other programmes: Vanderbilt, because a friend recommended it and there was no application fee; the University of Warwick; and a pre-doctoral fellowship she had heard about. By her own description, all four applications were unplanned.

"As you can see, they are very random. They don't have the similarities that graduate applications usually do."

She was accepted by all four.

Why Oxford chose her

The MPhil-DPhil at Oxford is a highly selective programme. Each year, only six students are chosen from the MPhil cohort to focus on research from the very first year. These are students considered advanced enough to bypass foundational training and move directly into producing original research.

We asked Samia why she thinks Oxford selected her.

"My research output was probably the biggest reason because my programme is research-focused. They must have thought I was well equipped for research."

But she is also careful not to attribute her success to a single factor. Every part of her application mattered—the GRE scores, recommendation letters, writing sample, statement of purpose, and research experience.

"I think I gave equal emphasis and importance to every component of my application. And that was my strength."

She submitted four letters of recommendation in total, including one that she added after her informal interview. She had asked whether it was too late to submit another recommendation and was told that it could only strengthen her application.

What the scholarship takes

Samia did not have to apply separately for funding. The MPhil-DPhil programme is fully funded, and all applicants are automatically considered for Oxford's various scholarships. Only six scholarships require separate applications, and none of them matched her profile. As a result, she did not have to apply for any additional funding.

She was awarded the Clarendon Scholarship through her college. Each year, one Economics student receives the award. This year, that student was Samia.

"Society tries to teach girls to be dependent. You have to depend on your father, you have to depend on your husband. Ultimately, when you depend on people, there comes a point when they let you down. But I have to be self-reliant. I have to be self-sufficient. I will not depend on anyone in the future. This mindset helps a lot."

Samia Islam Anika

In terms of expenses, her application process was relatively inexpensive. She only had to pay the fees for the IELTS and GRE. The other three universities she applied to charged no application fees. Oxford also waived its application fee after she indicated that she could not afford to pay it.

The major costs came after admission: the visa, the Immigration Health Surcharge, and airfare—amounting to around £1,000 or more. To be on the safe side, she suggests that prospective applicants keep around Tk5,00,000 in reserve, as applying to universities can sometimes involve significant upfront expenses.

However, she also pointed out that there are ways to manage these costs. Many scholarships cover visa and other related expenses upon request. For example, Clarendon provides her with a lump-sum payment, which can be issued early if needed to cover such costs. So, while studying abroad does require some financial preparation, she believes prospective students should not be discouraged by the initial expenses.

The true X factor

A woman from a public university in Bangladesh, with no exposure to standardised testing or international admissions while growing up, ends up at Oxford on a full scholarship. We wanted to know what she thought her X factor was. Her answer was not talent.

"Society tries to teach girls to be dependent. You have to depend on your father, you have to depend on your husband. Ultimately, when you depend on people, there comes a point when they let you down."

She said her family was different. While posted in Sylhet for work, her father chose to travel back every week rather than move the family and disrupt her education and life at Jahangirnagar.

"The level of sacrifice my family made for my education and my career is something many girls in Bangladesh do not receive."

But alongside that support, there was also a decision she made for herself early on.

"I have to be self-reliant. I have to be self-sufficient. I will not depend on anyone in the future. This mindset helps a lot."

She added that it was her father who had raised her with this mindset. Throughout the interview, her admiration for her family was evident. In the end, she agreed that her family was her true X factor.

The obstacles

We asked her what obstacles she had faced.

"I would say I did not face any obstacles of that kind," she replied. "I never let obstacles define me. I simply changed what needed to be changed."

Even in Bangladesh, she said she and her peers found ways to overcome challenges together.

"Back then, we did not have many opportunities for research. So, we built stronger relationships with our teachers and sought their guidance."

The one gap she acknowledged was the absence of seniors who had walked this exact path before her—no one who had studied at a place like Oxford and could tell her what to expect. But she had teachers who mentored and supported her throughout the journey.

For students standing at the beginning of this process, Samia's story is not really about Oxford. It is about what happens when you know what you want and allow that one goal to shape every smaller decision you make. Because if you keep following the path those decisions create, you may eventually find yourself reaching your destination—just as Samia did.