America’s Got Talent

This is the time of year when the winners of two of the most prestigious scholarship awards in the US are announced: the Rhodes scholars and the Marshall scholars.

The young Americans named on those lists will next year launch into an experience which will shape their life paths: one to three years of fully funded postgraduate study in the UK. It’s not unusual for Americans to study in Britain.

In fact Britain remains the top choice for US students studying abroad. So what’s special about these awards?

The first clue is the list of alumni: it’s impressive. Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal, Florida State football star Myron Rolle, former President Bill Clinton, and musician Kris Kristofferson, were Rhodes scholars. The list of Marshall Scholars is also remarkable and drawn across a broad array of American life, including Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, inventor of Dolby Sound Ray Dolby, and South Carolina Congressman John Spratt.

Nonetheless, the Marshall scholarships are rather less well known. Those selected this year are already marked out as high achievers – and not just academically. They will have come from a wide diversity of backgrounds, but they will all have demonstrated personal qualities and interests which spell leadership and aptitude for contribution to wider society.

Even before applying students must first win the nomination of their parent institution, and they will likely have spent months preparing their applications. Reaching the interview short list is itself a major achievement. To receive one of the small number of awards made each year (32 each year for the whole of the US in the case of the Rhodes; around 40 in the case of the Marshalls) is a huge achievement.

Although both target America’s rising talent, the origins and designs of these two scholarships are distinct. The Rhodes scholarship awards were founded by the bequest of a British philanthropist in the 1930s to allow young people from certain countries including the US to study at Oxford University. In contrast the Marshall scholarship was founded by an act of Parliament after World War II, specifically for young Americans, as a living gift to the US in recognition of the support received for rebuilding Britain after the war (the Marshall Plan).

As such the Marshall Scholarship awards carry the added distinction of being part of the future vision for the UK-US relationship.  In addition to all the attributes of a Rhodes Scholar, Marshall Scholars are selected for ambassadorial talents and are encouraged to explore and mentor the wider UK-US relationship through their study and beyond.

Those selected as Marshall scholars can study at any of the UK’s top universities, not just Oxford, and are encouraged to get to know as much of the country as possible during their time in the UK.

In my time as Consul-General in Atlanta I have participated in the selection of four annual rounds of Marshall Scholars, and each year wonder at the impressive young Americans I have met at interview. The number of awards we have to give never matches the strength of talent we see and it means tough decisions every time.

I have no doubt at all that among those selected are the future leaders of America. I hope they will return from their scholarship experience carrying with them an understanding of Britain, which will sustain our valuable relationship long into the future.