Zakrzewska applied for admission to the government midwifery school, Royal Charité Hospital in Berlin. She applied at age nineteen and again at twenty, only to be repeatedly rejected. Dr. Joseph Schmidt, a professor at the school, was impressed with her persistence. He was also fascinated with Zakrzewska as he watched her work with her mother. After several applications, Zakrzewska was admitted into the midwifery school when Dr. Schmidt secured her a spot. She was the youngest woman to attend the school, which made her highly visible in the classroom. Regardless of the obstacles that came in her way, she outperformed her fellow classmates and graduated from the program in 1851. Dr. Schmidt was so impressed with Zakrzewska's success that he attempted to appoint her a chief midwife with the rank as a professor at the college. No woman had ever held this position and debates arose surrounding this appointment. Many believed that because men would surround her, she would fall in love, thus ending her career. Despite the challenges, Zakrzewska was appointed to the position at age twenty-two. She was responsible for more than two hundred students, men included. Zakrzewska's mentor died only a few hours after she assumed the position. Without Dr. Schmidt supporting her role as chief midwife, protests led to her early dismissal after only six months in the position.