…everyone knows why Harvard got 5 this year.

@By 02138:

Why does it matter how many winners Harvard had this year? The YDN is for Yale and covers Yale happenings. Not everything is a competition–and besides, the Rhodes Scholarship is awarded to students, not to schools. They’d be winners anywhere.

Congrats, Geoff! Oh no you di-int…
I’m so proud of you!!

Not only did I read the article, I read it thoroughly and several times. He’s misleading people about what he’s done:

From the Yale OPA website @ sitehttp://opa.yale.edu/news/article.aspx?id=6679

“He became hooker for Yale’s Rugby Team after holding the same position in Colorado.”

Kid did NOT ‘become hooker.’ He played a few B-side matches and then bounced. I ought to know, as I started at that position during my four years. I had lots of backups along the way, people who were dedicated to the game and the team and Baum was never one of them.

Nice enough dude, but when he saw he wasn’t going to play much, he took off.

Yes, he played briefly. No his “commitment” was not meaningful.

He was president of the wrestling team, that’s awesome — why does he need to resume pad with his brief rugby experience?

Lame.

Thin line between misrepresentation and dishonesty.

He’s toeing it.

After speaking w/Baum, he has not misrepresented his participation. Rather the media (for purposes of brevity, perhaps?) concatenated, thus leading to the misunderstanding.

I wish Baum all the best. He’s a smart guy and will do well.

After talking with James Pollack, and sending the following to the rugby panlist, I just wanted to clear things up here as well.

I played at Colorado College while I was a Freshman there and at Yale only in 2007. I made it clear on my Rhodes application as such. I can only imagine that the media has worded their releases as the way they have in order to save space and I wish they would be more detailed.

If you who played with me remember me, (my nickname was Colorado) I played backup to James and wherever else the team needed. I mostly played with B-side where my props were Senthu and Andrew. When we went to Cherry Blossoms (I roomed with Wariz, who should be able to vouch for me) in 2007 and James hurt his hamstring, I jumped in for the final game and did my best to continue the good quality of play our team had been giving out up to that point. When we played Princeton that spring, I had you tape my fingers together (which some Princeton Rugger had shattered) at half time so that I could finish the game. Shortly before that, I had snapped all the pix of the team with my phone so that Goggles could put them up on the website; these are the pix that are still there. I was also the kid that rode his bike to practice.

I in no way wish to offend JP or anyone on the Yale rugby team. I think the Yale Rugby guys are an incredible group and thank you for welcoming me onto the squad when I transferred to Yale my sophomore year. I wish you nothing but the best.

It’s not fair to blame Matt for the media’s tendency to reduce a person’s complex achievements to a list of extracurricular activities. There are many reasons Matt won a Rhodes, as anyone who knows him is well aware of. I find this whole discussion immature and irrelevant.

amazing that a guy gets a rhodes scholarship and he is forced to defend his Rugby playing. give it a rest you meat heads.

Can’t add anything to the question of Mr. Baum, but in general it seems telling that so many Rhodes scholars ended up as politicians. These sorts of things (like getting into Yale) require not just that you are good at what you do, but that you can sell that story to others. Sometimes this has distasteful consequences- the humble have no shot at a Rhodes.

JP, do you really think the five Harvard kids who won the Rhodes didn’t at all engage in resume padding/exaggeration of their accomplishments? This is par for the course when it comes to Rhodes applications. I wouldn’t say every winner does it, but many of them do.

Yikes. People: Rhodes scholars do not get to choose what gets written up in their bios. There is no evidence of resume-padding here.

Also, FYI, contrary to popular myth, Rhodes Scholars do not get selected on sports/athletic prowess anymore. It is no more valuable than any other extracurricular activity. All Rhodes Scholars show excellence in a lot of fields; “vigor” has been reinterpreted by the Rhodes committees so that athletics no longer gets any special treatment.

Congrats to both of this year’s scholars from Yale!

Congratulations, Geoff!