after receiving her m.ed., she began part-time work at the clearing house for mental defectives. it was her job to administer binet intelligence tests. she had to teach herself how to administer them due to a lack of experience. the civil service began to supervise the administration of the tests in 1914 and demanded that examiners take competitive exams to determine their capability. leta hollingworth scored well and filled the position as the first psychologist under civil service in new york. from there she went on to work at the bellevue hospital center. she was offered the position of chief at the psychological lab. she completed her doctoral work at columbia under edward l. thorndike while maintaining the position of consulting psychologist for the new york police department. in 1916 she received her ph.d. she was promptly offered a teaching position at columbia teacher's college. she remained there for the rest of her life.