Davidson went up as a commoner to Trinity College, Oxford, in October 1867. The college was undistinguished at the time, and Davidson found the Trinity faculty disappointingly mediocre. Although high-church versus low-church controversies were rife in Oxford, he was not greatly interested in them, being, as always, more concerned with religious than with liturgical considerations. His chief aim was to complete his studies and go on to be ordained as a priest. His health affected his studies; he had hoped to study Greats (classics and philosophy), but as a result of his injuries he had, he later said, "intense difficulty in concentrating thought on books" and opted for the less demanding subjects of law and history. He graduated with a third class Bachelor of Arts degree, conferred in November 1871.