The newest cohort of Rhodes Scholars from the United States was announced Saturday. This year’s class of 32 students was dominated by Harvard University, which saw nine of its graduates selected for the award. A tenth Harvard student was awarded an International Rhodes prize.
More than 2,500 students began the application process for a Rhodes this year; 862 were ultimately endorsed by 249 different colleges and universities. The 2024 class of U.S. Rhodes Scholars will begin its studies at the University of Oxford next October, joining more than 100 scholarship recipients from more than 70 other countries.
Shortly before Thanksgiving each year, the Rhodes Trust typically announces its newest set of Rhodes Scholars from the United States. The award, considered to be the most prestigious international scholarship for American college graduates, was established in 1903 through the final will and bequest of Cecil John Rhodes. The first class of scholars began its Oxford studies in 1904.
The value of a Rhodes Scholarship depends on the academic field and the degree (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral) a student chooses. The award includes payment of all Oxford tuition and fees, a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford and during vacations, as well as transportation to and from England.
The total value of the Rhodes Scholarship averages about $75,000 per year and can reach up to as much as $250,000 for scholars who remain at Oxford for four years in certain departments.
The selection follows a two-stage process. First, candidates submit an application packet, which must include an endorsement by their home college or university.
Then, selection committees in 16 U.S. districts interview those judged to be the strongest candidates and make the final choices. For the past three years, the winners were selected through a virtual process, but this year included a return to in-person interviews.
The selection criteria emphasize:
- academic excellence;
- the energy to use one’s talents to the fullest;
- attributes such as truth, courage, kindness, and devotion to duty;
- and the moral force of character and instincts to lead.
Initially, scholarships were, according to Rhodes’ will, open only to “male students,” a restriction that did not change until 1976. To date, 663 American women have been selected as Rhodes Scholars.
The scholarship has also come under fire because of Rhodes’ white supremacist views and the historical absence of Black recipients, an exclusion that did not begin to change until the latter half of the 1900s.
The 2024 Scholars
The complete list of Rhodes Scholars from the U.S. can be found here. Harvard University had the most scholars this year, with nine. It was followed by Yale University, Dartmouth College and the U.S. Military Academy, with two scholars each. In total, the 32 U.S. Scholars came from 21 different institutions including Agnes Scott College — a women’s liberal arts school in Georgia — where there had not been a winner since 1981.
As is typical, the 2024 class is a diverse group in terms of backgrounds, interests and activities. It includes rock climbers and marathon runners, ballet dancers and stand-up comedians, volunteer fire fighters and tutors, boxers and swimmers. Volunteers, interns, activists, published authors and campus leaders are prominent among the recipients.
The Rhodes Scholars plan to study a broad range of fields at Oxford. For example:
- Mira-Rose Kingsbury Lee, from Harvard University, will pursue a master’s or D.Phil. in interdisciplinary bioscience.
- Zachary Lang, a summa cum laude graduate from Dartmouth College, will pursue a bachelor’s in philosophy at Oxford.
- Mrinalini S. Wadhwa, a senior at Columbia University where she majors in history and mathematics, will study for an M.Phil. in modern European history.
- Abigail Ward is a senior at the United States Naval Academy studying for a B.S. in computer science. At Oxford, she will pursue an M.Sc. in social science of the internet and a master’s in public policy.
- Mariah L. Cady is a senior at the University of Georgia where she majors in international affairs and Russian, with minors in geography, German and teaching second languages. She speaks eight languages including Russian, German, Serbo-Croatian and Lakota. At Oxford, she will pursue an M.St. in linguistics, philology and phonetics and an M.Sc. in forced migration studies.
- Tatyana Nieves Brown graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi in 2022 with a B.A. in social research and public policy. She is now a Henry Luce Scholar in Taiwan working with the 2023 Taipei Biennial at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. At Oxford, she plans to complete an M.Sc. in comparative social policy and an M.Sc. in visual, material and museum anthropology.
- Suhaas Bhat, a senior at Harvard University majoring in social studies and physics, will pursue an M.Sc. in mathematical modeling and scientific computing and an M.Sc. in international health and tropical medicine.
- Benjamin Chang, is a senior at Harvard University with double majors in chemical and physical biology and computer science. At Oxford, he will pursue an M.Sc. in engineering science to advance machine learning for synthetic biology.
Ramona L. Doyle, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, said, “this year’s Rhodes Scholars representing the United States–elected by 16 independent committees around the country meeting simultaneously– will go to Oxford University in England in October 2024 to pursue graduate degrees across the breadth of the social sciences, humanities, and biological and physical sciences. They inspire us already with their accomplishments, but even more by their values-based leadership and selfless ambitions to improve their communities and the world.”
With the latest selections, 3,642 Americans have won Rhodes Scholarships, representing 327 colleges and universities.
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