Student Endorsements for Rhodes Down

The percent of students Harvard has endorsed for the Rhodes Scholarship fell to its lowest in five years this autumn, according to Office of Career Services (OCS) figures.

The University endorsed 57 percent of the applicants this year, a decrease of approximately 5 percent from 1990, according to OCS Assistant Director of Fellowships Paul A. Bohlman. The actual number of students endorsed remained the same, but the number of applications for the scholarship increased by 7.4 percent.

Eighty-seven students applied this year, and 50 were endorsed. In 1990, 50 of the 81 candidates who applied received endorsements.

Dean of the College L. Fred Jewett '57, a member of the endorsement committee, said yesterday that there had been no attempt to get tougher with fellowship applicants this year.

The Rhodes Scholarship, established in 1902 by British diplomat Cecil J. Rhodes, allows students from around the world to study for up to three years in the graduate schools of England's Oxford University. In the United States, the Rhodes Scholarships Trust does not require college endorsement of applicants.

Harvard's endorsement committee, which includes faculty members and Jewett, recommends Rhodes Scholarship applicants on the basis of their grade point average (GPA), plan of study and extracurricular activities. Applicants must attain a GPA of 13 on Harvard's 15-point scale, or petition for endorsement on the basis of other merit.

Before 1989, the Fellowship Committee did not require applicants to achieve a specific GPA, and when the 13-point GPA requirement was instituted, the number of endorsements dropped by 29 percent.

"It is a scholarship and the aca demic side is being emphasized more and more," Bohlman said of the 1989 changes. "The endorsement committee tries to pick the very best and look for positive reasons to endorse them."

Prior to the change, the endorsement committee viewed the endorsements as a recognition of the adequacy of the applicant rather than as a positive affirmation by Harvard, according to Bohlman.

But a fellowships adviser at North House, Eileen M. Roberts, emphasized that GPA is not the only important criterion for endorsement. "You hear all sorts of stories with people with a 12.2 getting endorsed because they have these incredible activities lists," Roberts said.

Endorsement percentages for the other major scholarship for study in England, the Marshall Scholarship, have remained relatively consistent because of an absolute restriction requiring a minimum GPA of 13.8, with no exceptions allowed, according to Bohlman