If you want to be a Rhodes Scholar, you may have picked the wrong school.
Cadet Lopinoso is the 88th Rhodes Scholar from West Point and West Point is ranked4th behind Harvard, Yale and Princeton.
Most colleges have a full time person whose job is to select and prepare possible Rhodes Scholars sometime during their sophomore year. They need to get them outside research opportunities, have them attend the cocktail receptions, meet and greets, etc. It's not all academics, despite what some people want you to believe. These professional mentors work hard to get volunteer and research opportunities for them and to maintain critical "network contacts."
This is probably the most significant key to success in competing for these scholarships.
There is so much "schmoozing" that have to be done, it almost overtakes the actual academic qualifications. The Rhodes selection committees place an incredibly high premium on "who you know and who you've met."