In 1924 she became a student at UCB while working as a maid for a rich Boulder family. Her mentor, Karl Munzinger, guided her in her challenge of the then-prevalent psychological theory of behaviourism. She wrote her thesis paper on trial-and-error learning in rats. He invited her to write her own case history. After receiving her Masters degree, she became one of 11 women involved in the PhD program in psychology at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, having been refused referral from the chairman of Yale for being a female. She studied with Knight Dunlap, who also generally did not approve of women doctorates. She was awarded her PhD in 1932.