Queensland, West Australia, Natal, Rhodesia, Newfoundland, Bermuda, and Jamaica are the only Colonies where two years’ University standing is not insisted on.[22]
This preliminary work of organization occupied Dr. Parkin, beginning in the early Fall of 1902, for more than a year. In the Spring of 1903 Mr. Wylie assumed office in Oxford. In December, 1903, the Trustees issued Memoranda to the Colonies and to the States, then to the Committees of Selection; and through them prospective candidates were informed of the conditions and regulations which they must fulfil.[23]
Seven South Africans and five Germans were appointed to Scholarships in 1903, and, with one exception, these men, the first Rhodes Scholars, entered Oxford in Michaelmas Term of that year (Oct. 1903).
In March, 1904, Dr. Parkin arrived in New York with a package of sealed envelopes which contained the examination questions, prepared in Oxford to be ‘set’ in the United States and Canada for the qualifying examination. On April 13, the first papers were opened simultaneously at various appointed centres throughout the two countries. The various sets of papers were opened successively in the presence of the supervising examiners as the hours of each examination arrived, during that day and the next. In the United States 236 candidates took the examination, and in Canada 7. When papers were finished the supervising examiners sealed them, and the whole number were sent to Oxford, there to be read and passed upon.
Of 242 who took this first examination 126 satisfied the examiners.
The names of those who ‘passed’ were reported to their Committees. From these lists the Committees then made their selection. When more than one candidate was eligible, the choice was to be based as far as possible upon Rhodes’s suggestions as laid down in clause 23 of the Will.[24]
In 1904, 48 scholars were selected from lists of candidates who had passed the examination; 19 Colonial scholars were chosen without examination; five Germans were also appointed.
The appointees were instructed to enter into negotiations with Oxford Colleges, through Mr. Wylie, at once.
Candidates were, and are, of course, allowed a choice in the matter of Colleges (students can only enter the University through a College), and this is a matter of considerable importance.[25] Owing to the lateness of certain appointments, and owing to the difficulty experienced in some quarters in getting sufficient information on the requirements and on the characteristics of different Colleges, there was some confusion, a good deal of puzzling, and numerous cases of almost random choosing in the expression of preference for this or that College, and in the acceptance of applications by the Colleges.
In October, 1904, the first large group of Rhodes Scholars, 72 in number, was matriculated at Oxford. The two questions which most vexed the Rhodes Scholars and the College and University authorities in that year were that of ‘standing’ and that of ‘choosing a course’, and these questions, while being simplified and made easier of settlement, will remain as problems which will confront the majority of foreign students who enter Oxford, especially Americans.[26]