He graduated from the Budapest Piarist High School in 1950. He was interested in politics early on, but (quite understandably) didn't pursue his political career during the communist regime of the 1950s. After graduating from high school, he studied Hungarian language and literature at the Eötvös Loránd University as well as history and archival science. He wrote his thesis about the politics of József Eötvös, obtaining degrees in teaching, library science and museology. On 30 September 1991, Antall was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from Central Connecticut State University.