Rhode Scholars

College Search & Lists
1

<p>I’m curious as to which universities produce many Rhode Scholars. Anyone know if UCLA has produced many Rhodes scholars in the past?</p>

2

<p>There have been at least 11: [UCLA</a> student and recent graduate earn Rhodes Scholarships for 2009](<a href=“http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/two-ucla-athletes-earn-rhodes-72118.aspx]UCLA”>Newsroom | UCLA)</p>

<p>I’m sure someone here will post a comprehensive list.</p>

3

<p>Well, if you’re interested in a public school (since you ask about UCLA), the University of Georgia is one of the few public schools in America that has produced 20+ Rhodes Scholars.</p>

<p>In fact, last year, UGA was the only public school in the entire country to produce more than one (within the same cycle/year).</p>

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<p>To find out which schools are producing Rhodes Scholars look on their website. You can find profiles of winners from recent years:</p>

<p>[The</a> Rhodes Scholarships - Past Scholars](<a href=“Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships”>Office of the American Secretary | The Rhodes Scholarships)</p>

5

<p>Many of the elite publics (UC Berkeley, UCLA, Michigan, etc.) do quite poorly in Rhodes production. Note that in the link in Booklady’s post, UCLA has produced three in the last 30 years – an average of only one a decade. An explanation can be found here:</p>

<p>[The</a> real reason you didn’t win a Rhodes scholarship | The Michigan Daily](<a href=“http://www.michigandaily.com/content/real-reason-you-didnt-win-rhodes-scholarship]The”>The real reason you didn't win a Rhodes scholarship)</p>

<p>UVA and UNC Chapel Hill are far and away the best public universities for Rhodes production, with 45+ scholars each. </p>

<p>The top 15 are:
Harvard
Yale
Princeton
USMA
Stanford
Brown
UVA
Duke
UNC
Dartmouth
Williams
USNA
USAFA
Chicago
Reed</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>? UCLA had 2 Rhodes Scholars this past year…</p>

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<p>“Last year”</p>

<p>= </p>

<p>2008.</p>

<p>This is 2009.</p>

8

<p>For some more recent data on Rhodes production, here are the results since 1998:</p>

<p>Harvard 36
yale 24
USMA 16
Duke 15
U Chicago 15
Princeton 14
Stanford 14
USNA 12
Brown 9
MIT 7
Wash U 7
Columbia 6
U NC 6
U Georgia 5
Wake Forest 5</p>

<p>Some folks may be surprised that UNC and U Georgia are the most productive in recent years, but these are no flukes. Georgia has had winners in 4 of these years, UNC 5. In this same time period, UVA has had 4, so it is in a 11 way tie for 16th!</p>

9

<p>Newmassdad, it looks as though your numbers are correct for the top two but you’ve shortchanged Princeton here. Princeton has had 18 Rhodes Scholars during this time frame. PM me if you would like the links. </p>

<p>Top Three Since 1998</p>

<p>36–Harvard
24–Yale
18–Princeton</p>

<p>Since 1904 when the program was started the numbers are:</p>

<p>333—Harvard
238—Yale
216—Princeton</p>

<p>The next highest schools after these three are Stanford and the U.S. Military Academy, each of which have about 70.</p>

<p>When compared to the total number of undergraduates who have been educated at each school, the count of Rhodes Scholars per 1,000 undergraduates is as follows:</p>

<p>2.98 per 1,000 — Harvard
2.73 per 1,000 — Princeton
2.61 per 1,000 — Yale</p>

<p>Some feel that the Rhodes scholarship is notoriously incestuous. Former scholars form the committees that pick future scholars so there tends to be a good deal of inbreeding. I believe that this helps explain why HPY have done so much better in this competition than other schools. Most other major scholarships, including the Marshall Scholarships, do not do this.</p>

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<p>Pton,</p>

<p>I counted only US Rhodes. Pton, Harvard and Yale tend to have folks that won Canadian, Indian and Caribbean Rhodes, too, but since places like the military academys don’t have these internationals, counting them would be unfair. Of course, I could have mis-counted, too. :)</p>

<p>I agree that the Rhodes tends to be a bit more concentrated at HYP than the Marshall, but that could be because the Rhodes stresses its version of leadership more than the Marshall, which tends to be more academic. And most of us have the sense that HYP stresses leadership and other soft factors quite a bit in its admissions decisions, so this could account for the tilt. </p>

<p>But when you realize that in 2007, St. Olaf and Georgia had two winners, FSU, U. Oklahoma and OSU one each, it is hard to take the inbreeding idea very far.</p>

11

<p>^ newmassdad, it is funny that you mentioned St. Olaf. I was going to bring it up as an option for someone looking at an LAC. They have had 9 Rhodes Scolars since 1996 and, like you mentioned, 2 last year. I think Williams and Wellsley are the only LAC’s with more. Impressive for a college that does not get a lot of buzz.</p>

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<p>“St. Olaf…had two winners.”</p>

<p>Maybe for the Rhodes Committee, Vikings are considered an underrepresented minority.</p>