2008 Woodie Awards
Recent Smith College alums offer law school insight
Maggie Mertens
Issue date: 9/14/06 Section: Features
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Every good Smith student can rattle off the plethora of famous alums that have come before her: Sylvia Plath, Betty Friedan and all those first ladies. But hardly ever does one stop to consider the amazing potential in the current generation of Smith students. Take, for example, several recent alums' decision to attend law school.
Eleanor Biggers '06, Elizabeth Whiston '05 and Lauren Wolfe '05 are all currently attending law schools around the country. While each are enthusiastic and confident in their ventures, each have arrived at their current place on different paths.
All three women seem to have made up their minds extremely early about their lives after Smith. For Biggers, it was her Praxis internship.
"It was not the work at the law firm so much, but the pro bono work that my supervisor did," she said. " I saw that it was very important both to her clients and to her. It was so inspiring to see how she was able to make such a difference in people's lives."
Whiston, however, came to her decision in quite a different way. It was her time away from Smith, when she took a semester off to go to Uganda, that made her realize she "wanted a career that encourages a global perspective."
They each also chose different institutions around the country at which to further their education. Biggers at SUNY Buffalo, Whiston at Columbia University and Wolfe at Detroit Mercy. While each sing the praises of their individual schools, each also makes it clear that the important part was finding the right fit.
Biggers' decision to attend SUNY Buffalo was influenced by many factors, one of which was money.
"UB is my state school, and the cost of law school can be burdensome, but it also has a great reputation in New York," she said. She also cites the strong alumnae network as a large factor in her decision.
Whiston discovered that Columbia was "the best school for what [she] wanted to do," and she added, "I wanted to live in New York." She also noted that the size of the school was important to her: "I knew I wanted a school that wasn't too big or too small."
Eleanor Biggers '06, Elizabeth Whiston '05 and Lauren Wolfe '05 are all currently attending law schools around the country. While each are enthusiastic and confident in their ventures, each have arrived at their current place on different paths.
All three women seem to have made up their minds extremely early about their lives after Smith. For Biggers, it was her Praxis internship.
"It was not the work at the law firm so much, but the pro bono work that my supervisor did," she said. " I saw that it was very important both to her clients and to her. It was so inspiring to see how she was able to make such a difference in people's lives."
Whiston, however, came to her decision in quite a different way. It was her time away from Smith, when she took a semester off to go to Uganda, that made her realize she "wanted a career that encourages a global perspective."
They each also chose different institutions around the country at which to further their education. Biggers at SUNY Buffalo, Whiston at Columbia University and Wolfe at Detroit Mercy. While each sing the praises of their individual schools, each also makes it clear that the important part was finding the right fit.
Biggers' decision to attend SUNY Buffalo was influenced by many factors, one of which was money.
"UB is my state school, and the cost of law school can be burdensome, but it also has a great reputation in New York," she said. She also cites the strong alumnae network as a large factor in her decision.
Whiston discovered that Columbia was "the best school for what [she] wanted to do," and she added, "I wanted to live in New York." She also noted that the size of the school was important to her: "I knew I wanted a school that wasn't too big or too small."
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