The U.S. Rhodes Scholars For 2023 Have Been Announced

The newest cohort of Rhodes Scholars were announced Saturday. This year’s class of 32 students from the United States were selected from 840 candidates endorsed by 244 different colleges. The 2023 class of scholars will begin their studies at the University of Oxford next October, joining scholarship recipients from more than 60 other countries.

Typically, shortly before Thanksgiving, the Rhodes Trust announces the newest 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 their Oxford studies in 1904. Students from all over the world compete for the more than 100 scholarships that are now awarded annually.

The value of a Rhodes Scholarship depends on the academic field and the degree (B.A., master’s, doctoral) that a student chooses. The award includes payment of all Oxford tuition and fees along with a stipend to cover necessary expenses while in residence in Oxford as well as during vacations, and transportation to and from England.

The total value of the 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. This year more than 2,500 students began the application process.

Then, selection committees in 16 U.S. districts interview those judged to be the strongest candidates and make the final choices. For the third consecutive year, the winners were selected through a virtual process. Elliot F. Gerson, American Secretary of the Rhodes Trust, said that he hoped to be able to return to in-person interviews and selection next year.

The selection criteria include:

• 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’s will, open only to “male students,” a restriction that did not change until 1976. To date, 643 American women have been selected as Rhodes Scholars.

The scholarship has also come under fire because of Rhodes’s white supremacist views and the historical absence of Black recipients, an exclusion that did not begin to change until the latter half of the 1900’s.

The 2023 Scholars

The complete list of Rhodes Scholars from the U.S. can be found here. Harvard University had the most Scholars this year, with six. It was followed by Yale University with five, Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with three Scholars each. Georgetown University and the U.S. Military Academy each had two scholars. In total, the 32 Scholars came from 17 different U.S. institutions.

As is typical, the 2022 class, with 16 men and 16 women, is a diverse group in terms of backgrounds, interests and activities. It includes violinists and varsity rowers, trumpet players and cross-country runners, pianists and soccer players. Volunteers, interns, activists, published authors and campus leaders are prominent among the recipients. As examples:

• Irena Petryk, from Northwestern University, is the daughter of Ukrainian immigrants. She recently interned with the Council of Economic Advisers.
• MIT’s Jack Cook is developing a digital cognitive assessment for diagnosing patients with neurodegenerative diseases.
• Natalie Navarrete, of the University of Georgia, interned for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Smuggling Detection and Deterrence and for the Office of Congressman Ted Deutch.
• Marie-Rose Sheinerman, editor in chief of The Daily Princetonian, also served as an intern at The Miami Herald where she was part of the team of reporters awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida.
• Isabella Turilli, a graduate of Georgetown University, served as researcher at the Council on Foreign Relations and also worked as an EMT.
• Duke University’s Shreyas Hallur served as a Project Advisor at the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center and a Student Researcher at the Duke Autism Center.
• Nathaniel M.R. Ross, a senior at Arizona State University, is completing four majors: B.S. degrees in Biological Sciences, Applied Quantitative Science, and Political Science, and a B.A. degree in history. A disability rights advocate, Nathaniel was the youngest person to qualify for the ballot in city history when he ran for a seat on the Mesa City Council.

Of the 2023 cohort, Elliot Gerson said, “This year’s Rhodes Scholars representing the United States…will go to Oxford University in England next October 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.”

Including this year’s recipients, 3,610 Americans have been awarded Rhodes Scholarships, representing more than 327 different colleges and universities. Approximately 2,000 American Rhodes Scholars are living in all parts of the U.S. and abroad.