 She originally aspired to pursue a career in singing, but her parents considered such a pursuit inappropriate for a woman of her class, so Reid enrolled in the Melbourne Veterinary College instead in 1902.Reid graduated from the Melbourne Veterinary College in 1906—she was one of five students who sat the final-year examinations and was the only one to pass.She was registered with the Veterinary Board of Victoria the same year, and was considered the first woman in the world to formally qualify as a veterinary surgeon.