USNA 2011 Rhodes Scholar

Wow, slim pickings from the service academies this year. Sad to see. Happy to hear USNA was able to pick one up. Congrats to her!
 
Congratulations! That is excellent news for her, but as hornet mentions, not so good for SA's overall.
 
Miss Barlow was our DD's squad leader during NASS. She has been top-notch from Day One. Wow. Congrats.
 
Just out of curiosity, why is the number 3 ranked midshipmen picked and not the number 1 midshipmen? :confused:

And, what is: Science in environmental change and management. :confused:



TYIA
 
The Rhodes Scholarship is awarded by region of hometown. Thus, she would have been competing as a finalist against others from her state and those nearby. Numbers one and two may not have applied for the Rhodes, and if they had, would have been chosen from different pools of applicants, most likely not in the same pool. Also, the Rhodes Trust interviews finalists and makes the selection based on

1.literary and scholastic attainments;
2.energy to use one’s talents to the full, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;
3.truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship;
4.moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings.


The scholar-athlete balance they're looking for comes close to class rank - the SAs probably produce more of those types than anywhere else - but may not be exactly the balance the Rhodes Trust selection committee is looking for.

All the same, #3 is pretty darn great - congratulations to her!
 
Just out of curiosity, why is the number 3 ranked midshipmen picked and not the number 1 midshipmen? :confused:

And, what is: Science in environmental change and management. :confused:



TYIA

Last year, the USAFA Rhodes winner was ~10 I believe and the Marshall was number 2. Number one was rejected by both.

Tom Friedman had an interesting article today with this quote:
Last week, the 32 winners of Rhodes Scholarships for 2011 were announced — America’s top college grads. Here are half the names on that list: Mark Jia, Aakash Shah, Zujaja Tauqeer, Tracy Yang, William Zeng, Daniel Lage, Ye Jin Kang, Baltazar Zavala, Esther Uduehi, Prerna Nadathur, Priya Sury, Anna Alekeyeva, Fatima Sabar, Renugan Raidoo, Jennifer Lai, Varun Sivaram.

Not that they didn't deserve it but there are two potential implications here:
The Rhodes Trust is biased towards "diversity."
American really is sucking at producing quality from the "old pool." I'm trying not to sound racist here since I would not say someone of x descent is not a true American. But, that list says a lot in terms of what the new crop of Americans is made of.
 
Last year, the USAFA Rhodes winner was ~10 I believe and the Marshall was number 2. Number one was rejected by both.

Tom Friedman had an interesting article today with this quote:


Not that they didn't deserve it but there are two potential implications here:
The Rhodes Trust is biased towards "diversity."
American really is sucking at producing quality from the "old pool." I'm trying not to sound racist here since I would not say someone of x descent is not a true American. But, that list says a lot in terms of what the new crop of Americans is made of.

I certainly couldn't have made the list but...I sure feel sorry for the kids that could but were out of the competition because they were possibly labeled "from the Old Pool" NEXT! Tarnishes the image of the award. <period

ETA: I just read the FAQ's from the Rhodes page and one thing popped out at me aside from the....well....never mind lol
Any-who, when do they have time for school? Look at the vacation time they have!

"Q4. I like the idea of traveling in the summers and long vacations. Do many Rhodes Scholars do
that? How expensive is it? How hard is travel with the workload?

A. Most Rhodes Scholars do travel during their vacations (which last six weeks between
the three eight-week terms and about four months in the summer). The amount they
travel typically depends more on their interests and their academic workloads than on
their means. (The Rhodes Scholarship stipend is generous enough to support some
travel and most Scholars try to supplement the stipend with personal resources for
extensive travel). It is probably a safe generalization that Scholars reading second
B.A.s have more time to travel during vacations than those pursuing graduate degrees
who are expected to be working full time—while B.A. students and taught masters’
students may be busier academically during the terms than are research degree
graduate students. But see my comments to the question immediately above."
 
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Congratulations to MIDN Barlow!! Competition is stiff - 837 students were endorsed by their colleges and 32 were selected.


American really is sucking at producing quality from the "old pool." I'm trying not to sound racist here since I would not say someone of x descent is not a true American. But, that list says a lot in terms of what the new crop of Americans is made of.

I agree with this. Kids from the 'old pool' are not missing out because they are from the 'old pool'. They are missing out because education is not placed number one in their lives.
There are many recent immigrant communities (Asian and Hispanic - namely Mexican) that place a huge emphasis on excellence in education as a way to succeed in America. Kids from already successful families just are not encourage to compete in the same way.

There is a lot of 'recent immigrant' talent that is being developed and these kids are succeeding.

Hornetguy - have you seen any indication from the Rhodes trust that they are biased towards diversity? I have not and think that the main criteria is still:

1.literary and scholastic attainments;
2.energy to use one’s talents to the full, as exemplified by fondness for and success in sports;
3.truth, courage, devotion to duty, sympathy for and protection of the weak, kindliness, unselfishness and fellowship;
4.moral force of character and instincts to lead, and to take an interest in one’s fellow beings.

To suggest or imply that 16 of the 32 Rhodes selectees received their awards at the expense of "old pool" is insulting to the accomplishments of these scholars.

Here is a summary of three new Rhodes Scholars - one from Hornetguy's list and two from the 'old pool' (if one can infer that solely from their names).
All three have stunning and similar resume's and embody the criteria set above.
Aakash Shah, a graduate of Ursinus College, Matthew Watters, a senior at the University of Delaware, and Andrew Lanham, a graduate of Haverford College, will all study at the University of Oxford in England. Shah, a native of Cliffside Park, N.J., graduated from Ursinus in May with a degree in inequality studies, biology and neuroscience and is enrolled in Harvard Medical School. At Ursinus, he ran track and worked with the United Students Against Sweatshops in Mexico and studied environmental health problems in the slums of India.

Watters, from Newark, Del., majors in neuroscience and minors in political science. He has worked in hospitals in South Sudan and Haiti and founded a student organization focused on relief work in Haiti. Watters is a nationally competitive mountain biker and will study for a degree in global health science. Lanham, from Wooster, Ohio, studied English and philosophy at Haverford. He was the captain of the cross-country team, served as the head of the college honor council, and interned with the Pennsylvania Humanities Council. Lanham now works as a resident tutor for a nonprofit that aids underprivileged minority students in Lower Merion Schools. He will study English at Oxford.
 
Immigrants' emphasis on education was exactly that to which Tom Friedman was referring. hornetguy eliminated the first sentence from Tom's paragraph. Here it is in it's entirety.
If you want to know who’s doing the parenting part right, start with immigrants, who know that learning is the way up. Last week, the 32 winners of Rhodes Scholarships for 2011 were announced — America’s top college grads. Here are half the names on that list: Mark Jia, Aakash Shah, Zujaja Tauqeer, Tracy Yang, William Zeng, Daniel Lage, Ye Jin Kang, Baltazar Zavala, Esther Uduehi, Prerna Nadathur, Priya Sury, Anna Alekeyeva, Fatima Sabar, Renugan Raidoo, Jennifer Lai, Varun Sivaram.
The entire article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24friedman.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
 
ETA: I just read the FAQ's from the Rhodes page and one thing popped out at me aside from the....well....never mind lol
Any-who, when do they have time for school? Look at the vacation time they have!

What is your question? In case you are not aware - college is normally two academic terms separated by a summer break and a (shorter) winter break. Graduate school programs as the Answer indicated tends to run year round because of reasearch and teaching commitments.

Mongo - that's what I said. I didn't even read the article.
But - it's true. Parents of immigrants have a different mindset and often much higher expectations of their children who are motivated to live up to those expectations.
 
I eliminated the first sentence for a reason, mainly because the name alone doesn't indicate the "immigrant level" necessarily. They could be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd generation which does make a bit of a difference.

I tried to caveat, I had no intention of racist/anti-immigrant undertones (nearly impossible in bringing up a discussion) but to show that the ratios scream that this country has a problem which Friedman had written a few articles about. If you consider that "recent" immigrants (0-2 gen) disproportionately (1/2) own the scholarships considering their population is well under 1/2, I find it very concerning to see such a drop in the "old guard" group. Is it endemic to America? aka, will immigrant generations regress to the mean? Honestly, this really isn't a shock to anyone here, the emphasis on education in the old groups of Americans is in big decline, sadly.

I will say that the Rhodes trust has some big biases after going through that process with many classmates. Not ethnically etc. but in other areas they have major biases. They have a diverse group gender/ethnically, but often the studies are pretty focused (predominantly international relations type stuff in my experience).
 
What is your question? In case you are not aware - college is normally two academic terms separated by a summer break and a (shorter) winter break. Graduate school programs as the Answer indicated tends to run year round because of reasearch and teaching commitments.

Mongo - that's what I said. I didn't even read the article.
But - it's true. Parents of immigrants have a different mindset and often much higher expectations of their children who are motivated to live up to those expectations.

Where did I ask a question in my last post JAM???

Oh and thanks a bunch for clearing up how college normally work their schedules lol always the helpful one! :yllol::shake:

How many Graduate programs in America run 8 weeks and a then a 6 week vacation, times three, and then a summer vacation break of 4 months? BTW, that's Oxfords own descriptive words for their yearly schedule in case you didn't read the whole FAQ's and just my quote.
 
If you consider that "recent" immigrants (0-2 gen) disproportionately (1/2) own the scholarships considering their population is well under 1/2, I find it very concerning to see such a drop in the "old guard" group. Is it endemic to America? aka, will immigrant generations regress to the mean?
Sadly yes, I think so. One would hope the opposite would hold true where the cultural attitudes for excellence in education would not regress but progress. Hard to say - there is a lot of prejudice and many folks would prefer to blame 'reverse discrimination' for their own personal lack of success.
Look at 'blue collar' America. Mostly white and people who have been able to make a good living - but many in this group don't value or see the price of good higher education worth the cost.
How many peers from your high school came from families who would not make sacrifices to send their children to college?


They have a diverse group gender/ethnically, but often the studies are pretty focused (predominantly international relations type stuff in my experience).
Well, yes the focus is a big part of the goals of the scholarship:
The Rhodes Scholarships were established after the death of Cecil Rhodes, who dreamed of improving the world through the diffusion of leaders motivated to serve their contemporaries, trained in the contemplative life of the mind, and broadened by their acquaintance with one another and by their exposure to cultures different from their own. Mr. Rhodes hoped that his plan of bringing able students from throughout the English-speaking world and beyond to study at Oxford University would aid in the promotion of international understanding and peace. Each year, 32 U. S. citizens are among more than 80 Rhodes Scholars worldwide who take up degree courses at Oxford University. The first American Rhodes Scholars entered Oxford in 1904.
The focus on differing cultures and promotion of international understanding and peace is also probably why students from an immigrant culture - whether it be China, India or Latin America are attracted to this type of study.

Also - this goes along the line of Maximus' (criticism?) noting that foreign travel is encouraged.
The Rhodes is a scholarship to Oxford University. Oxford makes the decision on the length of depth of the education and it's worth noting that an Oxford degree is pretty prestigious and rigorous - even if they get a lot of "vacation".
 
The Oxford tutorial system is totally different than that of the US college semester system. Many classes, especially those in the liberal arts, are a one-on-one basis with the professor who guides the student's reading. These 'vacations' are necessary in that they are accompanied by quite extensive reading lists which are prerequisites for the next semester's classes. And also, in general, the British treat travel abroad as a requisite part of one's education.
 
The Oxford tutorial system is totally different than that of the US college semester system. Many classes, especially those in the liberal arts, are a one-on-one basis with the professor who guides the student's reading. These 'vacations' are necessary in that they are accompanied by quite extensive reading lists which are prerequisites for the next semester's classes. And also, in general, the British treat travel abroad as a requisite part of one's education.

Anyone that's read the link to Oxford and it's FAQ's knows that Mongo, even JAM has read them by now and is paraphrasing them also.

I guess travel is important after you arrive at Oxford?

Q9. I’ve never traveled very far, even outside my state, and have never been out of the country.
Will that disadvantage me in the competition?
A. Absolutely not. Every year, some Rhodes Scholars’ first trip to Washington, D. C. is for
the traditional “departure luncheon,” and their first trip out of the country is to Oxford.
 
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