<p>The Rhodes is a geographic competition. Each college or university can only nominate one undergraduate from each state for the competition. (You can compete either for your home state or the state in which your college is located.) So, if the fellowship committee thinks it matters, the candidate will not get through the fellowship committee and will not “win” the nomination for his college. Game over. </p>
<p>You can’t just leave out the information.First, the application is detailed. Second, I’ve never heard of a college or university that didn’t include a grueling interview as part of the application process, since the Rhodes selection at both the state and regional level involves interviews. The likelihood you won’t be asked about any glaring holes in your app is virtually non-existent. </p>
<p>MANY candidates who did not get their university nomination have reapplied as graduate students–the rules are different for grad student apps and in many cases, the grad schools attended by those who failed to get the nomination from the colleges they attended as undergrads are located in different states, which may be less competitive. SOME of these have won a Rhodes. It’s not at all rare.</p>
<p>To some extent, who wins at the state level depends upon who shows up to do the interviews. The Rhodes often uses former Rhodes scholars. Since in the old days, there was a marked preference for athletes, many of the winners were college jocks. (That’s still true to a small degree.) Many of these went into business. It is not unknown for them to choose the candidate who is NOT the academic type. Remember, the Oxford faculty does NOT have ANYTHING to do with choosing the winners.</p>