She received her Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University in 1881, and then went to the University of Zurich where she earned her Doctor of Philosophy, becoming one of the first American women to earn a doctoral degree from a university in Europe.
Despite her extensive schooling, Gregory could not find a paid academic position. Because she was financially stable, she was able to take on unpaid positions from 1890 to 1895 at the University of Pennsylvania and Barnard College as a teaching fellow and lecturer respectively. Gregory was the first woman elected to the American Society of Naturalists in 1886.
She died in 1897.
