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Rick Tyler, one of the reasons why H,P and Y have produced so many Rhodes Scholars is because those three universities have always provided a great deal of advising purely for the purpose of the Rhodes scholarship. They actually have specialists purely devoted to helping students prepare for the award.
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<p>And this is yet another reason to prefer schools like HYP. To win awards like this, you want as much help as you can get, and the truth is, a lot of schools, especially public schools, simply won't help you very much. For example, at Berkeley, I know that if you want to win the Rhodes, it's basically all you. The help you will get from Berkeley is minimal. You will not get heavy advising as to how to put together a strong application package, or how to write an essay that the Rhodes committee likes, or which profs will give strong letters of recommendation that are especially appealing to the committee. You will not be put in touch with an extensive network of previous winners who will be able to coach you on the process. I believe the same is true at UCLA, Michigan, and most other public schools (but perhaps not at Virginia or UNC). In short, certain schools give you a major leg up in terms of winning the Rhodes, and if that's what you want, you should go to those certain schools.</p>