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Melbourne I'd expect, the others not so much due to the self-selection factors I mentioned ("If you like Oxford's original 11th century gothic architecture you'
by hugh3 16y ago
Melbourne I'd expect, the others not so much due to the self-selection factors I mentioned ("If you like Oxford's original 11th century gothic architecture you'll love our 19th century copies of Oxford's 11th century gothic architecture!). If there's significantly more from Sydney than Melbourne then, yes, I'd say something is screwy.
- jacques_chester 16y agoI got curious and decided to test my assertion. Taking this list as an input: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Australian_Rhodes_scholars http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Australian_Rhodes_scho... 70 entries in total. I excluded 4 entries where the original university is unknown, and 3 where the person did not attend university in Australia, leaving a sample of 63 scholars. Of the remainders: Sydney: 13 Melbourne: 17 Adelaide: 15 Queensland: 5 UWA: 8 Tasmania: 5 While this is not a representative sample (it depends on Wikipedian "notability"), it may suggest that I am full of shite.
- hugh3 16y agoWell congrats, it takes a special kind of effort to go to that much trouble to disprove yourself. I'm interested in the complete lack of UNSW and Monash. I think it supports my idea that if you're the kind of person who really wants a Rhodes Scholarship so you can go to Oxford then you're the kind of person who'll choose the ivy-covered alternative over the just-as-good 20th century one.
- jacques_chester 16y agoWell it's more embarrassing when someone does it to you. And I have a suitably fragile and inflated ego, which is why I picked Sydney out of the offers I received way back in the day.
- bane 16y agoGreat check! Not being an Australian, are the top 3 schools here the top 3 schools in Australia? (No UNSW?)
- jacques_chester 16y agoThe Universities of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide are generally considered to be the most prestigious institutions in their states. They're sometimes called the "sandstone universities", because they self-consciously mimicked the architecture of Oxford and Cambridge[1]. UNSW started as a technical college, I believe. Much more practical, not the sort of place where gentlemen went to study. Given that the Rhodes sample I chose covers about 100 years, UNSW would be underrepresented versus its current standing within Australia (neck-and-neck with Sydney). [1] My own alma mater, UWA, has a tuscan feel that most closely resembles Stanford.