Student Surprised but Grateful to Be a Rhodes Scholar

With an eye on a career in journalism and educational policy, Ganesh M. Gunasekaran never gave much thought to applying for a Rhodes scholarship during his past few years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

But friends and professors encouraged the 21-year-old political science major to try, coaxing the Woodland Hills man into a rigorous screening process.

During the weekend, the effort yielded a handsome payoff. Gunasekaran was named one of this year’s 32 American Rhodes scholars, putting him into an elite coterie that includes President-elect Bill Clinton.

“I was pretty surprised,” Gunasekaran, a college senior, said by telephone from Chapel Hill on Monday. “I knew that there are many more qualified applicants than scholarships, so I figured a lot of it might just come down to luck.”

Some would beg to differ.

“His letters of recommendations from faculty members of classes he had taken . . . basically said he was the best student they’d seen in 10 years,” said Thomas Sorrell, chairman of the university’s Rhodes Scholarship Nominating Committee.

Gunasekaran is a graduate of Viewpoint School in Calabasas and Harvard School (now Harvard-Westlake) in Studio City.