Member Profile: Meredith Wise ’12

Posted on Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Originally from Lubbock, Texas, Meredith Wise knew she wanted to experience university life outside of the Lone Star State. “My choosing Northwestern came down to the school having the perfect combination of a big university’s Division I sports teams and a high level of academic excellence,” she says. “I liked the size and wanted to go to a school a little further from home to experience something different.”

An English major, Meredith particularly loved courses with Associate Professor Bill Savage. “He taught the Chicago literature class and opened my eyes to a lot of things that were going on in the city,” she says. “It really gave me a good perspective on understanding the literature but also the community I was living in at the time.”

Meredith decided to start giving back to Northwestern in 2012, when she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and pre-med from the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. She first contributed to her senior class gift, and she’s made gifts every year since—a habit that gives her infinity status and bronze-level membership in NU Loyal.

Now living in Houston, Meredith is in her second year of medical school at Baylor College of Medicine. She keeps her purple pride alive as a member of the NU Club of Houston, attending alumni get-togethers and football game watching parties. Last June Meredith also volunteered to speak at an information session for Houston-area high school students interested in applying to Northwestern.

As a student, Meredith volunteered at Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, and she stayed in the city for a year after graduation to work as a public interest fellow at Lawndale Christian Health Center. Joining NU Loyal, she says, was a great way to stay connected to the university that gave her so many meaningful opportunities and life experiences. “Northwestern had given so much to me,” she explains, “that I wanted to establish a continued relationship so I could keep giving back to Northwestern.”