Latest Class of Rhodes Scholars Sets a Record

The latest group of US Rhodes scholars includes 21 women, the most ever in a single Rhodes class, reports the AP. In addition, almost half of the 32 winners are immigrants or first-generation Americans. The Rhodes Trust on Sunday announced the 32 men and women chosen from a group of applicants endorsed by 281 US colleges and universities for studies beginning next fall at Oxford University in England.

The organization says this is the first year of eligibility for the scholarship for those covered by an Obama-era program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, that shields young immigrants from deportation, and that a DACA recipient from Harvard is a new Rhodes scholar. Duke, Princeton, and Yale each had three Rhodes scholars. More than 800 applications are submitted annually for the 32 spots, notes the Duke Chronicle. Also selected was an international group of scholars representing more than 64 countries. The winners' biographies can be found here.

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