More than 800 students from over 200 colleges and universities across the country applied. But only 32 were chosen to be Rhodes Scholars, earning a scholarship to the prestigious Oxford University in England. One of the brand new Rhodes Scholars is University of Michigan Senior Rachael Merritt, who is spending her final semester at Michigan in Russia.
“Young people, I would say, have some amount of optimism for how to shape a better future,” Merritt said. “So, we’re coming together from all different parts of the country, different academic institutions, and different backgrounds. So it’s a really diverse group of academics and leaders in their fields.”
Merritt says being named a Rhodes Scholar is a real honor. She’ll spend the next two or three years studying at Oxford, where she will major in Russian and Eastern European Studies.
