As a child Casey File ’17 loved to get her hands dirty in the woods next to her house, digging to unearth deer skulls and other treasurers. She’s been consistent in her passion: an anthropology concentration at Hamilton, summer courses in forensic anthropology at a number of institutions and now, her dream next step — a master’s degree in forensic anthropology in a two-year program offered at the Boston University School of Medicine.
File has been fascinated by forensic anthropology since high school. Still, even with an early and specific career goal, she wanted a liberal arts education at a college where she could study anthropology and play lacrosse without being consumed by it.
Major: Anthropology
Hometown: Huntington, N.Y.
High School: Walt Whitman High School
After Hamilton: Boston University School of Medicine
“I looked at D1 schools because everyone from my summer league was looking at D1 schools, so it was like you kind of feel pressured to. And then when I had heard back from people who had done programs like that, it was, ‘Lacrosse is life, and then there’s your academics,’” File says. “I didn’t want that. I wanted academics with lacrosse as a bonus.”
That, coupled with her determination to improve her writing, led her to Hamilton. Professors who have known her work for four years tell her they’re impressed with how her writing and analytical thinking skills have developed. File feels ready for grad school.
“A main part of graduate studies is you’re writing your thesis, you’re writing articles. It’s nonstop; it’s basically just writing, writing, writing, and so Hamilton has defiantly prepared me really well,” she says.
File learned that she was accepted into the BU program during Senior Day for lacrosse, after her team had won its game. She was in the training room, surrounded by teammates, when she looked at her cellphone to see a flurry of emails from BU. File worried that she’d forgotten some critical bit of information in her application. Instead, she was being congratulated and informed about what she should do next as a newly accepted student. That was a Hamilton moment she won’t forget.
Her goal now is earn a doctorate in forensic anthropology to work in academia and also on cases with law-enforcement agencies. “There are so many avenues once you have gotten your master’s,” File says.
