Two Philadelphia-area students honored as 2026 Rhodes scholars

Two college seniors from the Philadelphia area were named Rhodes scholars this weekend, joining a legion of distinguished American intellectuals.

“It is so surreal to be welcomed into a community of such incredible, impactful, and inspiring people,” recipient Alice Hall said in a text message to The Inquirer.

Rhodes Scholarships are widely considered among the most prestigious academic honors, providing two or three years of expenses-paid graduate studies at England’s elite Oxford University. The scholarship is worth about $75,000 annually, according to a Rhodes Trust news release.

Previous Rhodes scholars include former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D., N.J.). This year, more than 960 candidates from 264 colleges and universities were considered for just 32 slots.

» READ MORE: How Hazim Hardeman became CCP and Temple’s first Rhodes scholar.

Hall, 21, a Hatboro-Horsham High School graduate who grew up in Center City and Montgomery County, studies chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — where she’s also student body president, played on the women’s basketball team, and collaborated with a women’s collective in Ghana to design sustainably-powered tools for shea nut processing.

At Oxford, Hall wants to continue developing and deploying scalable and accessible clean energy solutions to combat the effects of climate change.

“This makes me even more motivated to earn the honor by fighting the world’s fight,” she said.

Yale University senior Aruna Balasubramanian , 21, of Bala Cynwyd, said her early teachers at the French International School, then Harriton High School, ignited her love of art. Oxford’s world-class humanities program will allow her to “study art from the perspective of an anthropologist.”

While across the pond, Balasubramanian — who is Indian, Irish, Welsh, and German — also wants to visit all of the Pennsylvania Welsh-tract namesake towns.

“I just feel very fortunate,” Balasubramanian said in a phone interview Sunday. “It means security in terms of my career as a humanist at a time when the humanities are sort of challenged and also the opportunity to basically do whatever I want career-wise.”

Three other students from universities in the tristate area are part of the cohort: Floridian Florence Onyiuke, a senior studying international studies and business at the University of Pennsylvania; Princeton University senior Hadi Kamara, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command from Virginia; and New Jersey native Omar Abuattieh, also a Truman scholar, who is completing an accelerated doctor of pharmacy degree at Rutgers University.

Abuattieh is the first Rhodes scholar from Rutgers in more than 25 years, the news release said. In a statement, Rutgers University–New Brunswick Chancellor Francine Conway said the honor “reflects Omar’s relentless spirit of intellectual curiosity, rigorous scholarship, and unwavering commitment to public service.”

Balasubramanian’s advice to other Main Line high schoolers or college students aspiring to be a Rhodes scholar: Don’t sweat rejection and study the niche things — even if others think it’s impractical.

“Though it can be really demoralizing,” she said, “people should just continue to apply, continue to pursue what interests them, because it’ll make them stand out and it’ll ultimately be more fulfilling.”

Hall said: “Never stop trying to learn, especially from the people around you. But really there is so much luck involved in everything.

“You don’t have to be a Rhodes scholar to change the world. Just be yourself.”