This past December when the year's 32 Rhodes Scholars were announced, Harvard, Yale and the University of Chicago had much to celebrate, with Harvard and Chicago producing three recipients each and Yale producing two.
Meanwhile in Hanover, students and administrators were left to wonder for another year what's wrong with Dartmouth -- out of the 12 Dartmouth students who applied only one made it to the final round and none were selected as Scholars.
With just two winners within the last four years and not much success in the recent past, Dartmouth's Chair of the Committee on Graduate Fellowships Monika Otter said she is puzzled by the College's inability to produce Rhodes Scholars.
"I wish I knew better," she said. "We are currently forming some sort of group to talk more about why Dartmouth students don't win."
Both Otter and Assistant Director of Career Services Ursula Olender think Dartmouth's applicants are just as qualified as those from other schools, and that the D-Plan is actually one of the major obstacles.
Whereas most students have returned to their schools well in advance of the mid-September application deadline and are able to profit from last-minute counseling, Dartmouth applicants often find themselves constrained by the late start of Fall Term.
"The D-Plan also discourages continuity so that Dartmouth students plan what they are doing on a term-by-term basis," Otter added. They simply don't think far enough ahead.
Because the application process is so rigorous, it is crucial that interested students start preparing as early as possible.
"The sooner the better," Otter said. "I wouldn't mind talking to people even during their sophomore year."
Applicants must not only write a detailed proposal of what they wish to study at Oxford, but they also have to coordinate the eight required letters of recommendation.
After earning nominations and endorsement from their respective colleges, they must then endure a series of interviews in statewide and regional competitions.
"If you don't think you have a really good shot, don't bother," one of Dartmouth's applicants, Michael Gottfried '99, said. "It's not just a cover letter and an essay."
The competition for this two year scholarship to study at Oxford University is intense, with 909 students endorsed by 310 colleges and universities applying this past year.
Gottfried became interested in the program because he wanted to have "the opportunity to study in England with people who are our intellectual and linguistic superiors."
Although the Rhodes Scholarship Committee lists the qualifications it looks for in applicants -- scholastic achievement, a fondness for athletics, and moral force of character -- Olender sees the selection outcome as very unpredictable.
"There's absolutely no rhyme or reason to it," she said.
The judges seem to weigh the "ease of presence" the applicants demonstrate at the cocktail party stage heavily in their selection of winners, according to Otter.
Nick Levin '99, who also applied this year, said, "All the winners had a very specific focus, and usually it was a focus which was humanitarian."
Assistant Dean of Yale College Jill Cutler told The Dartmouth that she was surprised the Rhodes selection committee understood the strengths of Yale's two winners.
"Usually the committee looks for more political leaders," she said. "These two women were brilliant scholars."
But while the final selection may be unpredictable, applicants can take advantage of Dartmouth's faculty advising network to improve their chances of winning.
Each candidate is assigned to a member of the Committee on Graduate Fellowships, who comments on the applicant's proposal and conducts mock interviews.
Levin points out that while the Committee's advisors "were helpful in what they did ... the resources here are just being developed."
He added that the advising system might be particularly useful to less independently motivated students. Levin, however, found that he received the best advice from a faculty member he spoke to on his own.
Gottfried also expressed some frustration with the lack of advising experience on the committee due to the fact that it rotates its members frequently.
"You get a lot of advisors who say, 'Ah, I've never done this before,'" he said. "If you want to have fresh blood on the committee, it would be better to just rotate one person off each year."
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Harvard's Residential Advantage
Out of the approximately 110 seniors who applied for Harvard's endorsement this year, three were selected as Rhodes Scholars, tying Chicago for the most winners.
As astonishing as these numbers may be, they are not uncommon for Harvard. For the past 30 years, nearly one-sixth of all Rhodes Scholars nationwide have come from Harvard, an average of 5.2 per year.
Harvard student and newly selected Rhodes Scholar Navin Narayan credits Harvard's success to the highly structured residential advising network which exists on campus.
Each of Harvard's 13 residential houses are assigned an extensive group of about 15 faculty advisors, some of whom are appointed to advise students on post-graduate fellowship opportunities.
"I got a lot of help," Narayan said. "There's a fellowship tutor in each house who looks over our application drafts, and a former Rhodes Scholar lived in my dorm."
While Harvard Fellowships Assistant Michael Bonner told The Dartmouth there is no official recruiting of qualified applicants, Narayan said that oftentimes tutors approach students on their own.
He also explained that the Rhodes Scholarship is part of Harvard's culture now that so many alumni have won.
"A lot of people talk about the Rhodes," he said. "People know when the deadlines are."
There is a disadvantage, however, to having so many students interested in applying -- competition for resources and endorsement.
"I have many friends who were clearly qualified applicants but did not receive endorsement," Narayan said. "It's hard to shine here."
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Where the Rhodes Roam
Both Levin and Gottfried agreed that other colleges and universities have more thorough advising programs than Dartmouth's.
University of Chicago's success this year, with three Rhodes Scholars and one Marshall Scholarship recipient, may be a result of its highly structured fellowship advising program.
Like most schools, Chicago sparks student interest in the Rhodes Scholarship with e-mail messages to students with high GPAs and a general information meeting for all interested.
Where Chicago differs with other colleges is in its close-knit academic advising system. Each of the approximately 750 students in every class are assigned to one of 20 academic advisors upon entering the college, so that the opportunity for exploring various graduate fellowships is encouraged.
Assistant Dean of Students Susan Art praised the unusually small class sizes at Chicago, which help faculty members identify particular students who might have chances of winning Rhodes Scholarships.
"We get to know our students very well," she said. "The faculty is able to write quite knowledgeably about the applicants."
Chicago's straightforward and practical approach to the application process could possibly explain its high percentage of winners out of the total number of applicants -- three out of the nine candidates this year were selected as Rhodes Scholars.
"The first question I always ask is 'Does study in England make sense for you?'" Art said. Then she and the other three members of Chicago's Rhodes Scholarship committee decide who has a good chance at winning.
"As for the students who have no chance, we're very honest with them," she said.
The committee members and advisors then help those students who are qualified candidates coordinate the eight required letters of recommendation, striving to convey as many different perspectives of the student as possible.
Once they learn which students have been granted interviews, the committee discusses and rehearses answers to possible questions with the candidates.
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Yalies Advise Themselves
Yale also typically has success with the Rhodes Scholarship, despite an apparent lack of administration interest in the program.
Assistant Dean of Yale College Jill Cutler said that while the College wants to encourage students to apply for the scholarship, it doesn't want them to think it is the most important thing on earth.
"I think that Yale does not do a tremendous amount of advising for the Rhodes because it is only one out of a great number of scholarships. One must put this into perspective and remember that it is a scholarship given only to 32 Americans," she said.
This year, approximately 35 students applied out of a class of about 1,200, and two were selected by the Rhodes Committee.
No recruiting system exists at Yale, and advising is given only to the few students who seek it. Most applicants opt to simply arrange their own mock interviews with the deans, Cutler said.
