Harvard Garners Rhodes In Canadian Competition

Adding to the already record number of Harvard students who have won Rhodes Scholarships, a Dunster House resident has won a Canadian Rhodes Scholarship, bringing the total number of Harvard Rhodes winners to 11.

Montreal native John L. Seybold '88, one of two winners choesn from 70 applicants in Ontario, said he is excited about going abroad to study "but not quite as ecstatic as my parents."

Rhodes to Oxford

"I am interested in travelling in Europe and I like the ideals of the Rhodes. They look for well-rounded people and that is what makes the program what it is," Seybold said when asked why he applied for the honor.

Seybold was awarded the scholarship for two years of study at Oxford University by a selection process entirely separate from the American competition, according to the American Secretary of Rhodes Scholarship Trust and President of Pomona College David Alexander.

The Canadian Rhodes competition requires an application and one interview at the provincial level, while the American program includes interviews at the state level and larger, district level.

Seybold said he plans to study in the "PPP Program," which encompasses studies in philosophy, psychology and physiology, during his two years at Oxford.

The Dunster resident said his interview for the scholarship was, "warm and pretty friendly. Mainly they asked me about my field of concentration here at Harvard, sociology."

Seybold said he told his Rhodes interviewers that he came to Harvard "for the diversity; [Harvard is in] a different country and it is a kind of an adventure."

In addition to adding to the impressive number of Harvard scholars, Seybold's election to the program ties Dunster with Eliot and Mather Houses at two Rhodes Scholars each this year.