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BY MARTHA MARRAZZA

In print | Published December 4, 2008

Caitlin Mullarkey ’09 was among 32 students from around the country recently named as a Rhodes Scholar. Mullarkey is the sixth Swattie to receive the honor since 2000 and only the fifth woman to win the scholarship in Swarthmore’s history.

The Rhodes Scholarship, endowed by British philanthropist and colonialist Cecil Rhodes, completely funds a two- or three-year course of study at the University of Oxford in England. According to the Nov. 22 press release announcing this year’s winners, the scholarship is “the oldest and best known award for international study, and arguably the most famous academic award available to American college graduates.”

This year, Swarthmore nominated four students, three of whom were chosen as finalists in this district. “We took up one-fourth of all interview slots in this district,” said Melissa Mandos, the Fellowships and Prizes Coordinator. “That speaks volumes to how wonderful our candidates were this year.”

Mullarkey said the initial shock of winning still hasn’t registered. “It’s weird, during the application process you’re so self-absorbed, so I really didn’t take the time to consider how much bigger than me the whole scholarship is,” Mullarkey said. “The whole experience, it hasn’t really sunk in. I don’t think this will really sink in until I’m actually 3,000 feet in the air on my way to Oxford.”

Mullarkey, an honors biology major with a minor in chemistry, plans on pursuing a master’s of science by research in pathology next year and eventually wants to work on developing vaccines. “The university system is different at Oxford, but I want to work in microbiology with an emphasis on viruses,” she said.

Besides presenting herself as a strong candidate academically, Mullarkey’s athletic achievements fit the original archetype of a well-rounded Rhodes Scholar. Mullarkey is a captain of the women’s soccer team and also holds varsity letters in basketball and indoor and outdoor track.

“The Rhodes requires not only academic excellence, but also a personal vigor that is most easily interpreted as athletic excellence,” said Biology Professor Amy Vollmer, one of Mullarkey’s advisors throughout the application process. “The emphasis is on the whole person.”

Vollmer first encouraged Mullarkey to apply for the scholarship last spring after interacting with her in lab and witnessing some of her athletic accomplishments. “During advising last April, I told her that I really thought she should apply for the Rhodes and she said, ‘really?’,” Vollmer said. “She’s really smart and very articulate, yet she has the ability to communicate at all levels. On the athletic field she’s not just skilled, she’s also a leader. She engenders a natural respect from her peers.”

After working on her application this past summer in the midst of conducting research for her biology thesis, Mullarkey said she assembled her final application and progressed through the two rounds of elimination this fall.

“You have to submit your application to Swarthmore and be endorsed by the school. They say that weeds out about half of the applicants, since about 1,500 students submit an application but only about 700 and change go on,” Mullarkey said. “I wasn’t confident I’d make it out of the school’s internal process because Swatties are tremendously impressive, and I know a lot of people here who would be a good fit for the Rhodes Scholarship.”

After securing Swarthmore’s endorsement, select candidates are chosen to interview at the regional level. The regional interview for District 4, which includes Delaware and Pennsylvania, featured a cocktail party at Haverford College followed by interviews the next day.

“The cocktail party was just an informal way to meet the judges and contestants,” Mullarkey said. “Then you pick interview spots, and after your interview they bring all the finalists together and you just have to wait there while the judges deliberate.”

Mullarkey said that past Swatties who were chosen as Rhodes Scholars helped her prepare for the interview process. “Rebecca Brubaker ’06 was helpful and she gave spot-on descriptions of the panelists, which put me at ease,” Mullarkey said. “Tafadzwa Muguwe ’05 was helpful because he told me to focus on myself and my goals rather than preparing for tricky current event or science questions that would trip me up.”

After all interviews were conducted, Mullarkey said deliberations went on for nearly three hours as the finalists waited in anticipation.

“Everyone’s heart was jumping,” she said. “The chair gave this long speech and everyone was chomping at the bit, then she just listed the winners. Since it was in alphabetical order by district, my name was read first and I was just in shock. I was just standing there, and one of the judges was like, ‘You can smile now’.”

Instead of calling her parents, Mullarkey drove home to Delaware to deliver the news in person. “I tried to look really disappointed and shake my head and pretend I didn’t get it,” she said. “My mom knows me too well though, and she knew I wouldn’t have driven all the way home to say I didn’t get it. She flipped out and started calling everyone in Wilmington … and Delaware … and the East Coast.”

Since the announcement nearly two weeks ago, Mullarkey said many members of the press have contacted her about her award. “I think I did like five interviews in three days, one with Associated Press, one with the Inquirer, and a few with local papers and the Catholic paper from my home town,” she said. “They told me to expect that. It’s nice, but at the same time when I went home for Thanksgiving break I was exhausted.”

Mandos said many members of the campus community have expressed excitement over Mullarkey’s recent award. “It’s exciting. There was great buzz about it on campus the next day,” she said. “It feels really good to have one of our students acknowledged in this way because the competition is really high with the Rhodes. Lots of large institutions do traditionally well, so when smaller schools like ours can compete at the same level it feels really good.”

Vollmer said that while Mullarkey had many supporters, she ultimately worked hard to earn the scholarship herself. “I feel like she’s the person running the marathon and I’m one of the people on the sidelines handing the runner a cup of water. That’s all I did. That’s what we do,” she said. “We don’t create Rhodes Scholars here. They make themselves.”

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