In 1969, upon graduating summa cum laude in physics from Barnard College, Hu entered Columbia University to pursue graduate studies in physics, and in 1971, as she had hoped, started studying under Wu, researching particle and accelerator physics.
1969 年，胡玲以優異成績從巴納德女子學院物理系畢業，隨即進入哥大物理研究所，並於 1971 年如願投入吳健雄門下，研究粒子物理與加速器。