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Given that Rhodes scholarships are allocated regionally, this distinction means a lot less than you might think. UCLA is a strong school in a Rhodes district that is incredibly competitive (California, which includes all campuses of the UC, the Claremont Colleges, Caltech, and Stanford). UVA is in a district spanning Virginia and Ohio, which includes ... well, UVA. UNC is in a district comprised of Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, which includes UNC, Duke, and ...?
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<p>Yeah, but at the end of the day, this doesn't really matter. Perhaps it's not 'fair' for the Rhodes to be awarded regionally. But fairness has nothing to do with it. If you want to win a Rhodes, you want to arm yourself with all of the advantages, even if those advantages are "unfair" advantages. See below.</p>
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Hahaha...you fail to include that you can compete in a region that you're from though you attend a school in another region. Most people that have won a Rhodes Scholarship from California's region didn't attend California schools but universities out East.
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<p>It is exactly right that the notion of region is somewhat squishy. Bill Clinton once admitted in some of his biographies that one main advantage he had in competing for the Rhodes is that he was able to declare Arkansas residency which put him in a far less competitive region than if he had decided to declare Washington DC residency (as a Georgetown student). </p>
<p>That also points to another reason why the California region is not as competitive as you might presume. True, Stanford, CAltech, and the Claremonts are located in the state of California. But many of the students at those schools are from out of state and may therefore declare their residency to be their home state.</p>