No Penn student won a Gates Cambridge Scholarship this year — marking the University’s first absence from the list of recipients since 2004.
No Penn student won a Rhodes Scholarship this school year either. And the University did not make the list of Fulbright Scholar “top producers.”
It’s great when a member of the Penn community receives one of these prestigious scholarships. The University has an abundance of well-qualified students who are looking to further their education and research through grants for international education.
But the number of scholars Penn produces does not define — or significantly influence — its excellence as an academic institution. The scholarships are for the benefit of the individual students who receive them, not awards for the colleges and universities they attend.
This year’s dearth of scholarships is clearly not indicative of any sort of trend. Penn produced four Gates scholars — three undergraduate and one graduate — last year, tying with Harvard University for the most scholarships earned that year.
The University has produced six Rhodes scholars in the past decade, as well as more than 100 Fulbright scholars.
The number of recipients of these scholarships who are associated with this University will continue to rise and fall, but Penn’s reputation as a superb institution of higher learning will remain stable.
What do you think of the lack of Gates scholars from Penn this year? Send us a letter to the editor: letters@theDP.com.
