For the second year in a row, Harvard captured more Rhodes Scholarships than any other college, with four students among the 32 winners.

Jeremy L. England ’03, Sue Meng ’03, Anna K. Weiss ’03 and Lindsey O. Worth ’02 were named to the 100th class of prestigious Rhodes Scholars on Saturday after a grueling series of applications, cocktail parties and interviews.

The candidates had to prove themselves during the week of interviews by answering questions as tough as “what is consciousness?” without losing their cool.

They will study for two or three years at Oxford University in fields as varied as Victorian literature and biophysics.

Meng, a history and literature concentrator from New York City, faced an enviable choice when she was offered the Rhodes. She was also the recipient of a Marshall Scholarship for post-graduate study at Cambridge.

“I never in a million years would have thought I would be in this position,” Meng said. “I finally decided to go with Rhodes, in part because Oxford has a more fitting program in Victorian literature, but also because if I take the Rhodes, someone else will be able to take my place on the Marshall.”

The Marshall Scholarships maintain a waiting list, while the Rhodes do not.

Nonetheless, Meng said the decision was not an easy one.

“While I feel completely honored, it’s been really tough for me,” Meng said. “For a while, I was doing coin tosses.”

Meng plans to use her Rhodes to study for a masters of philosophy in English literature. She writes a column for the Crimson every other week, as well as serving on the Harvard Advocate’s fiction board.

She said she anticipates a smooth transition to graduate study in England.

“I think that Oxford will just be a chance to deepen the thing that Harvard has gotten me excited about and interested in, so I think that it will be a pretty natural extension in some ways,” Meng said.

Meng found out at the same meeting as Worth, because they both applied in the mid-Atlantic region. She said that Worth was ecstatic when the winners were announced.

“When they announced the names, she burst into tears,” Meng said. “It was really moving.”

Worth, who graduated last year with a degree in philosophy, said in an e-mail that she plans to pursue a master’s in philosophy at Oxford before continuing on to study law.