Chisholm entered Girton College in 1889 aged 22, four years after she passed the senior entrance examination having been awarded the Sir Francis Goldsmid Scholarship by the college. At this time the college was only associated with the University of Cambridge with men and women graded on separate but related lists. Although she wanted to study medicine, her mother would not permit this, so, supported by her father, she decided to study mathematics. At the end of her first year, when the Mays list came out, she was top of the Second class immediately below Isabel Maddison. In 1893, Grace passed her final examinations with the equivalent of a first-class degree, ranked between 23 and 24 relative to 112 men.