The Naval Academy has had seven Rhodes scholarships in the past two years — a feat that took a lot preparation.

Before this year’s four winners and another finalist traveled across the country for final interviews last weekend, they had met once a week for two months to read the classics and discuss current events. They had practiced interviews with faculty to discuss how they would use two years at Oxford to “fight the world’s fight.”

They had dined and held cocktail-party rehearsals with military bigwigs, including the academy’s superintendent, Vice Adm. Rodney P. Rempt, to prepare for cocktail parties that the Rhodes selection committees hold the night before interviews.

The process is not unusual, with some universities prepping candidates from their freshman year for applications for prestigious fellowships. The academy, along with other elite schools, has been doing it for decades.

But the preparations reflect a growing focus at universities on winning Rhodes scholarships to enhance stature. A national association was formed to help smaller schools level the playing field, and several college presidents have added fellowship wins to strategic growth plans aimed squarely at college rankings in the news media.

Academy officials say they haven’t changed their approach, and are not sure why the military college has won more Rhodes awards in two years than in the previous eight years, when the academy received four.

“I gave up a long time ago trying to find out what the Rhodes committees are looking for in any particular year,” said Thomas Brennan, one of two history professors who shepherd the midshipmen through the process. “There is a sense of sympathy for the armed services right now, a pride in the armed services. I have to guess that played a role.”

Nick Allard, the secretary of the Rhodes committee district that includes Maryland and Washington, said post-9/11 fervor might play a role, but he also said he believes the Naval Academy might be attracting better students than the other service academies.

“The Naval Academy is justifiably attracting the best and the brightest,” he said. “They’re also offering a top-caliber university experience, not just military training, but a vigorous and challenging intellectual experience.”

The Naval Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point are perennial favorites for the Rhodes grants and other fellowships that provide a free ride to elite British universities.

Rhodes interviewers and Brennan, who has been involved in the academy’s fellowship preparations for almost 15 years, say that’s because the cadets and midshipmen are involved in challenging programs that force them to excel in academics, athletics and leadership, as well as commit to five years in public service after college. [Associated Press ANNAPOLIS, Md.]

This entry was posted by Taman Siswa on Saturday, November 26, 2005 at 8:27 am and is filed under Online Education, Scholarship. Tags: Associated Press, athletics, College, Fellowship, Grant, Maryland, Naval Academy, news media, Nick Allard, Oxford, Rhodes committee, Rodney P. Rempt, Scholarship, Student, Thomas Brennan, U.S. Military Academy, Washington, . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.