OP-ED: Yeah I'm Pre-Law, But Only Because I Saw 'Legally Blonde' Once

A lot of my friends didn’t know what they wanted to major in when they came into college, and a lot of them still don’t. But me? I’ve known exactly what I wanted to do ever since the second day of fourth grade, when I saw the best and most socially relevant film of all time: Legally Blonde, starring the iconic Reese Witherspoon.

Pink high heels? Check. President of my sorority? Check. But, unlike Elle Woods, I’m not chasing Harvard Law to impress some boy. I’m doing it to make her proud.

Elle Woods is by far the most influential feminist figure of our generation, and perhaps of all time. After watching her empower her fellow sisters and reject unworthy men with confidence for the first time in third grade, I knew that I wanted to go into law school. Nothing looks more exciting!

And it really doesn’t matter what I do here at Penn. I see this place as rather a stepping stone for my bigger dreams of Yale or Harvard or Stanford. I won’t settle for any less. My dad tried to get me to be pre-med by bribing me with a new Cartier LOVE bracelet for when I graduate next year, but I know he’ll just end up giving it to me anyway. Besides, Portia from writing sem is pre-med, and there is NO way I’m going to do the same thing as that loser.

People here think I’m kinda stupid (besides my sorority sisters, of course) and that it was only the triple legacy and $1,500,000 donation that got me in to Penn. They also just don’t think I stand a chance of getting into law school in general.

But I think that if there are three things to learn from the documentary that is Legally Blonde, they're that 1) you should never judge a book by its cover, 2) knowledge about beauty and hair products is vital for law school, and 3) white men on admissions councils are really, REALLY easy to win over.

So yes, this movie is the sole reason why I’m pre-law. But I know that this is my destiny—to be the next Elle Woods.