She attended a one-room school as a child, and later attended Barnard College (graduating cum laude in 1941) with initial plans to study law; however, it was here that she decided to study medicine, saying "Medicine attempts to fix what it studies."[2] She initially faced barriers to her continuing a medical education at Columbia, based on her gender, but policy changes during World War II allowed for her admission to the College of Physicians and Surgeons[3] at Columbia University.[4]