For the second consecutive year, no Dartmouth students were awarded Rhodes scholarships. The Rhodes Trust awards the prestigious prize each year to 32 recipients, who receive full funding to study at the University of Oxford. Among other Ivy League institutions, Yale University had seven Rhodes Scholars, Harvard University had six Rhodes scholars, and Cornell University and Brown University each had one.
Since 2000, Dartmouth has produced six Rhodes scholars, including one Canadian Rhodes scholar, making it sixth place in the Ivy League for the number of scholars in the last 12 years. Although Dartmouth students are qualified to receive the award, they face tough competition in the application process, according to Assistant Dean for Scholarship Advising Kristin O'Rourke.
"The level of competition is so high that no matter how stellar a candidate is, he or she is not guaranteed to win," she said.
Dartmouth has lagged behind peer institutions in terms of Rhodes scholarship recipients in recent years. In 2009, The Dartmouth found that fewer Dartmouth students have been awarded Marshall, Mitchell or Rhodes scholarships than students at many of the College's peer institutions.
"My impression of Dartmouth is it's a finance feeder school," Rhodes Scholar Adam Levine '08 said in an interview with The Dartmouth in 2009. "As to the point of why apply to Oxford: Why would you? You don't gain anything by putting your career on hold."
Many Dartmouth students pursue graduate studies in the United Kingdom through other national scholarship programs including the Fulbright and Churchill scholarships and the Dartmouth-sponsored Reynolds Scholarship, according to O'Rourke.
While Dartmouth has not had as many Rhodes Scholars as other schools, Dartmouth has been awarded 10 to 15 Fulbright and up to five Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst scholarships each year for post-graduate study abroad in the past decade, O'Rourke said.
In coming years, the College may see an increase in the number of national scholars as programs like the Rockefeller Center's "Create Your Path" develop.
The program, which gives students an opportunity to reflect on their experiences at the College and formulate goals for the future, can help students take a critical look at fellowships, scholarships, graduate studies or professional schools, Rockefeller Center Assistant Director for Co-Curricular Programs Danielle Thompson said.
The majority of students put more thought into their career paths rather than pursue potential fellowship opportunities, Thompson said. She believes that the newly created Create Your Path program may help students see how scholarship opportunities might fit into their plans.
Dartmouth is not the only Ivy League school to see a decrease in Rhodes scholars in recent years. The University of Pennsylvania has not produced any Rhodes scholars since 2009, according to the Association of American Rhodes Scholars' website.
But two or four years without any scholars cannot be called a decreasing trend, Cheryl Shipman, Penn's associate director of fellowships, said.
"When there are only 32 Rhodes scholarships given in the entire country, there is no such thing as we should earn one,'" Shipman said.
Shipman said the decrease in Rhodes scholars might also be because fewer students from Penn choose to apply for them. The recent recession might encourage students interested in scholarship opportunities to seek employment instead, she said.
Every year, each of the 16 districts of the Rhodes Trust receives over 100 applications, from which it selects 15 applicants to interview. Following the interview process, each district selects two finalists.
The last Dartmouth recipient of the scholarship was Gabrielle Emanuel '10, who is currently pursuing a doctorate in development studies after working at the Malaria Research and Training Center in Mali.
