For many American students, Rhodes and Marshall Scholarships represent the pinnacle of academic achievement, because they allow a few top scholars to study in England for free.

But as Americans fight for the opportunity to go to Cambridge and Oxford, students at those prestigious British institutions are competing for the chance to make the opposite journey.

Several scholarships are available to British students wishing to study in the United States--the most prestigious ones are the Henry, the Choate and the Knox, each of which bring one scholar per year, the Harkness, which brings about 10 students, and the Kennedy, which brings about 12 per year.

Since Harvard students won record numbers of Rhodes and Marshalls this year, perhaps it is only fitting that the vast majority of Brits who win scholarships to the United States end up in Cambridge, Mass.

Approximately thirty British fellowship winners are currently studying in the United States and all but a handful are studying at Harvard. Most of the other winners are attending MIT or Yale. The winners share very little other than a common gift for achievement. The British fellowships do not require specific plans of study and this year's winners are attending a wide variety of courses.

Laurence Hurst, who received his undergraduate degree from Cambridge University in biology last year, is this year's winner of the Henry Scholarship, and he is currently studying the evolution of religion at Harvard. The Henry is awarded to one British subject each year who is allowed to choose to attend Harvard or Yale. The approximately $8000 award pays not only for tuition but is also designed to encourage recipients to socialize and travel. The winners are not allowed to work towards a degree, but apart from that, the only requirement is that the recipient write a paper decribing his experience at the end of the year. "Not bad for $8000," says Hurst. Next year, because his fellowship requires that he "put his feet on Commonwealth soil," he plans to go back to study towards a Ph.D. at Oxford.

Hurst is researching the evolution of religion, a topic which is unusual among the sciences because it "extends into theology and philosophy. It is also highly contentious because of it's connection with the whole sociobiological thing." He says he audits classes and likes to "talk to academics all over the university--Wilson, Bell, Gould--I go around knocking on people's doors and disturbing people." Hurst also taught a section of Science B-16 last semester and is currently teaching one for Science B-17.

By contrast, Alan M. Taylor, this year's recipient of the Joseph Hodges Memorial Choate Fellowship, is studying economics, even though he majored in math at Cambridge University's King's College. Presented in honor of a former president of the Harvard Club of New York who was ambassador to Great Britain, the Choate fellowship is awarded annually to one Cambridge student. The Harvard Club of New York has funded the award, which includes tuition and a monthly stipend, since its establishment in 1919.

"There is a long tradition of the Choate fellow at Harvard," says Taylor. The Choate fellow has lived in the same Winthrop House suite since the House system began, Taylor says. The room contains a bureau--which is more than 50 years old--with a plaque on it which says, "rooms of the Choate fellow, 37 Weld Hall, ex bono Harvard Club of New York 1935." In addition, the Winthrop dining hall contains a plaque with a list of all the names of all Choate fellows.

Margaret Chirgwin is one of about 12 British students studying in the United States on a newer scholarship. The John F. Kennedy Memorial Scholarship normally funds a year at Harvard or MIT and includes all fees and a living allowance of about $9000. Chirgwin, who received her undergraduate degree in medicine at Cambridge and a graduate degree at Oxford, is now working towards a masters in public administration at the Kennedy School. Although "being in the K-School means you don't get to see a lot of undergraduates," Chirgwin is also taking a beginning Spanish course with undergraduates.

Despite their diverse plans of study, the British scholars say they have all noticed several ways in which a Harvard education differs from their common British educational background.

At universities in England, academics are at once more intense and more casual than here at Harvard, the fellows say. In general, British students are tied more closely to their departments and have more contact with professors.

At Oxford and Cambridge, students devote all of their academic work towards one field. According to Hurst, there are "no core requirements. If you enter a field, that's all you ever do." In fact, students are "not allowed to take courses in other fields," and very few students do double majors.

This system has both advantages and disadvantages, the fellows say. "Harvard students pursue a major but do lots of other things as well," Taylor says. "They are much broader and not so specialized. But they are not as far down the road in their are when they graduate," Taylor says.

It is very hard for British undergraduates to experiment, he says. "It may be good to have the chance to switch around a bit," Taylor says. "At Cambridge, the most flexible university in the U.K., the [exam] system allows taking a different subject each year. Normally, if you sign on the dotted line for electrical engineering at 17, that's what you're taking 'til you're 21."