After a stressful early morning interview and a leisurely lunch with his dad, Adam Zimbler stepped off the plane from Chicago this past Tuesday evening, listened to his cell phone messages and received some of the most exciting news of his life.
He had won one of this year's 40 Marshall scholarships.
Second in prestige to only the Rhodes Scholarship, the Marshall enables students to study in the United Kingdom for two years after they graduate from college.
"I'm very excited, obviously, and I think that from a personal standpoint, this allows me to pursue an intellectual passion and also be immersed in an environment from which I think I will gain a lot of knowledge and experience outside my own efforts," Zimbler said.
A senior in the Huntsman Program in International Studies and Business and a Joseph Wharton Scholar, Zimbler plans to study extralegal constitutions drafted by 17th and 18th century pirates at Oxford University through the scholarship. At Penn, he has done research on business ethics and the Japanese economy.
Zimbler is the fifth Penn student to win a Marshall scholarship since the program began in 1953.
The British government awards the scholarship to intellectual, motivated students who have maintained a minimum GPA of 3.7 since their freshman year.
"With three in the last four years, Penn students have finally begun to win Marshall scholarships with a frequency appropriate to their wonderful abilities and achievements as well as to Penn's own excellence as an undergraduate institution," Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships Director Art Casciato said, adding that there were 29 Penn applicants and four Penn finalists this year, both of which are record highs for the University.
He also expressed excitement for Zimbler and his accomplishments at Penn.
"It's especially exciting that Adam has won the Marshall because he's been such a high achiever since he arrived at Penn," Casciato said. "President of both his freshman and sophomore classes, a member of the Committee for Tangible Change, executive treasurer for [Promoting Equality and Community Everywhere], an organization established by students from a number of top-ranked schools... Adam has always demonstrated the theoretical knowledge and the practical experience and wisdom that characterizes the best of Penn students."
Zimbler said that he is looking forward to going to England and exploring his interests.
"The one wonderful thing about this scholarship is that it gives me two years to re-examine my priorities and think about where I want to be ten years from now, not just two or five years from now," Zimbler said. "At the same time, it also provides a very good transition to a lot of different options. Whatever option I want to pursue will hopefully be available to me as a result of this scholarship."
Despite the many accolades he has received, Zimbler likes to think of himself as a normal guy.
He calls himself a "sports nut" and says that he has many interests.
"I love to play blues harmonica, hang around with friends, get to the gym when I have a spare moment," Zimbler said.
The people who know him best rave about his passionate personality.
From delving into research about contracts that pirates developed before embarking on their expeditions to finding time to sit back and talk about life with his close friends, his acquaintances and mentors say that Zimbler is dedicated to the things he cares about.
"I can't think of anyone else in the world that deserves the award more than him because he is the most committed, passionate, kind individual," his close friend and College senior Sara Timen said. "He's always going and going and going, but he still manages to fit 30 hours a day into 24 hours."
"Even in 6th grade I think everyone would have voted him most likely to be president," said College senior Rachel Fleischer, a longtime friend of Zimbler's. "He's always been a leader and an organizer and the go-to man for everything. It's like he touches things and they turn to gold."
Fleischer said she was reminded of Zimbler's determination and charismatic personality when, living in Kings Court/English House during his freshman year and taking only Huntsman classes, he stayed up nights to knock on doors in the Quadrangle, introduce himself, get to know people and finally tell them that he was running for class president.
Wharton Vice Dean for Undergraduate Education Thomas Dunfee, who has worked with Zimbler on business ethics research, said he is probably the best and hardest working research assistant he has ever had.
"He would ask very piercing questions and he was always very challenging," Dunfee said, adding that he feels almost as proud of Zimbler's achievements as he would about an accomplishment of one of his own children.
"I was so excited [when I heard that Zimbler won], I actually burst into the meeting of the Wharton undergraduate advisors, sort of raised my arms and said, 'Adam has won a Marshall award,'" he said.
Dunfee is not the only one who has noticed Zimbler's intellectual sophistication.
He cited an instance in which he forwarded some of Zimbler's comments on a manuscript to a professor at the University of Minnesota, and the professor, impressed with the depth of the remarks, assumed Zimbler was a doctoral candidate.
And Casciato noted that before receiving the Marshall scholarship, Zimbler had also received a job offer from the global investment banking and securities firm Goldman Sachs.
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