Emilie Paltrinieri

At the college level, it is rare to find someone that already has made a statement in their sport before becoming an NCAA student-athlete. However, University of Michigan women's golfer Emilie Paltrinieri was well on her way before ever walking onto a campus.

So what led a Junior British Amateur winner and Italian national team member to choose to travel some 4,500 miles from home? Despite her success in Europe, opportunities to pursue an education while golfing are slim, leading her to look overseas to pursue her studies.

"The best way to get both a degree and also play golf at an excellent level is to come here to the United States," Paltrinieri said. "Back home in Italy, unfortunately there's still a very traditional idea where sports aren't viewed as nicely as in the U.S., and especially like in university, professors don't really understand how demanding it is to be an athlete and all of the commitments that we have."

Paltrinieri might be a golfer by trade, but she is a scientist by nature -- bouncing around different specialties before settling on molecular biology when she entered her undergraduate studies at UCLA.

"I think for everyone there's that one teacher that really transmits their passion to you and makes you gain a deep interest in the subject -- mine was science," Paltrinieri said. "This was in middle school, they were teaching us biology and it really tied with my personality. I'm very curious, I like to learn, I like to find the answer to something. That's what science does for me."

Exiting the Bruins as a multi-time Pac-12 Academic Honor Roll honoree and a WGCA Scholastic All-American, U-M head coach Jan Dowling zeroed in on gaining Paltrinieri's commitment, not only for her skill on the course but in the classroom as well.

"Emilie brings world-class experience, maturity and high character into our program," Dowling said at the time of Paltrinieri's commitment, making her the first transfer in the program's history. "She has successfully competed at the highest level of women's amateur golf both in Europe and as a collegiate golfer at UCLA. Simply put, she is a proven winner both on the golf course and in the classroom."

What convinced Paltrinieri to reciprocate the Wolverines' interest was the opportunity to earn a Masters of Management from the Ross School of Business, allowing her to use her final year of eligibility to the fullest by bolstering her scientific acumen with a comprehensive business education.

"I was conflicted between whether to keep doing science and pursue a Ph.D. and research at first, because I'm really passionate about the subject," Paltrinieri said. "But then just from traveling around, thinking about my parents' work in banking and finance, I really understood the importance of getting an understanding of how businesses function. Wherever you go, whatever job you do, you should at least get a glimpse into the economics and finance parts of your company.

"The Masters of Management program here was especially appealing for me because it was created for non-business majors, people like me who come from a STEM background for example, and Ross is known worldwide for its education. Everything lined up perfectly for my interests."

While continuing her golf career is certainly in the cards for Paltrinieri -- having made the cut on multiple Ladies' European Tour events despite being an amateur -- the graduate student sees herself giving back to the world in the health sciences realm as well.

"What I envision for my future is working in the pharmaceutical industry," Paltrinieri said. "For me, it's very important to be in an industry where I can be in contact with research and work on discoveries. That's my main passion. But I think that with my masters, then I can go into project management, having a more of a coordinator role in which I can give strategies to bring those discoveries to market.

"I think with my background both in biology and in business, then I can really have a holistic view of what is necessary for a discovery or a product to succeed and bring it to market."