In July 1913 Rhys-Davids won his Division or Class, beating his nearest rival by 53 marks. In Eton terms, he was now considered a specialist. On 12 December 1915 he was nominated for the Newcastle (Domus Exhibition) Scholarship to Balliol College, Oxford, and by 1916 was named Captain of the School. He was also inducted into the Eton Debating Society. As a person of consequence he was mentioned in "The Eton Chronicle", the school's newspaper. On 7 April 1916 it was announced that Rhys-Davids had won the Newcastle Scholarship. At this point, Rhys-Davids gave the first indication he was interested in becoming a pilot and joining the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).