In June 1923, Dent graduated with Dirac, gaining a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in applied mathematics with First Class Honours. On 7July 1923, she was awarded the Ashworth Hallett scholarship by the University of Bristol and was accepted as a postgraduate student at Newnham College in the University of Cambridge. On her death in 1922, Lilias Sophia Ashworth Hallett left one thousand pounds each to the University of Bristol and Girton College, University of Cambridge, to found scholarships for women. The University of Bristol scholarship was open to women graduates of a recognised college or university, and worth £45 at the time (). She spent a year at Cambridge, leaving in 1924 without further academic qualification. Before 1948, the University of Cambridge denied women graduates a degree, although in the same year as she left Cambridge, Katharine Margaret Wilson was the first woman to be awarded a PhD by the university.