Roy E. Bahat

Lived in Hungary for second half of sophomore year -- failed to learn any Hungarian beyond pleasantries and swear words

Tried, unsuccessfuly, to make U.S. Physics Olympiad team

Learned that the boundary between school and "real life" is blurry, running the student-led nonprofit organization, Philips Brooks House Association. Failed to win independence from university control -- spent 50+ hours per week on this for three years.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/9/12/pbha-board-easily-passes-compromise-with/

Procrastinated writing senior thesis until six weeks before due. Eventually wrote on the politics of area code changes, because all the research was… Show more

Learned that the boundary between school and "real life" is blurry, running the student-led nonprofit organization, Philips Brooks House Association. Failed to win independence from university control -- spent 50+ hours per week on this for three years.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/1997/9/12/pbha-board-easily-passes-compromise-with/

Procrastinated writing senior thesis until six weeks before due. Eventually wrote on the politics of area code changes, because all the research was on Lexis-Nexis.

Rejected for a Truman Scholarship for public service, 1997. Anonymously described in press by the head of the Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation as the defeated "really polished, smart applicant from Harvard" lacking "steely determination to succeed."
https://www.highly.co/hl/57485d903fed4f007500000b

Rejected for summer internship at the CIA, 1996. (Struggled to answer "do you have any relatives who are or were agents of a foreign government" when my extended family is Israeli...) Show less

Grateful for two years to study anything (in my case, urban economics) with a community of extraordinaries

With a friend who now writes for a respectable publication, anonymously published parody bios of the entering Rhodes Scholar class -- never got caught

Rejected for a summer bookseller job at Barnes & Noble -- received a postcard notice with no explanation (I thought the interview went great!)

Learned as much from two months as an unpaid intern at NBC News as two years… Show more

Grateful for two years to study anything (in my case, urban economics) with a community of extraordinaries

With a friend who now writes for a respectable publication, anonymously published parody bios of the entering Rhodes Scholar class -- never got caught

Rejected for a summer bookseller job at Barnes & Noble -- received a postcard notice with no explanation (I thought the interview went great!)

Learned as much from two months as an unpaid intern at NBC News as two years at one of the world's best universities

Now a proud sponsor of the Rhodes Incubator and participant in the Rhodes Ventures Forum, a diverse group of founders making future things Show less

Successfully ranked first in my class alphabetically by last name, so became the school's first graduate ever

Accidentally placed in a special class for ESL students, entire first grade. (My parents thought it was Spanish immersion.) Developed thing for Menudo: https://twitter.com/roybahat/status/1257439668875993096