After earning degree in two years, graduate going for two more
Segal combining bioethics and law

By Ida Lee Wootten

Of the thousands of people earning degrees May 20 from the University, no undergraduate has earned a degree faster this year than Erin Leslie Segal. Although she won’t be walking down the Lawn that day, she is following in the footsteps of another graduate, Tillman Breckenridge, unbeknownst to Segal.

Both earned undergraduate degrees in two years, and like Breckenridge, who receives his J.D. this year, Segal will go right on to U.Va. Law School.

Segal, an Eschols scholar, will earn a bachelor’s degree in bioethics after only being at U.Va. two years, having started with two years’ worth of advanced placement credits earned in high school.

“Every year there are a number of students who finish their undergraduate degrees in three years, but it is unusual to have someone finish in two years,” said Robert D. LeHeup, assistant registrar.

Segal, whose parents both went to U.Va., decided to complete her degree requirements quickly to help lighten her parents’ financial burden, since her 17-year-old brother and 14 year-old sister have yet to enter college.
Planning a career in health care policy, she will pursue a master’s degree in bioethics plus a law degree.

As for the traditional walk down the Lawn at graduation? “It doesn’t feel like it’s time to graduate. My joint M.A./J.D. program will take three-and-a-half years. When I finish that, I expect to walk down the Lawn because it will seem like the end then.”