As an undergraduate student at Gießen University for three and a half years, he studied Theology and Orientalism followed by a PhD in Old Testament Studies in 1888.
As an undergraduate student at Gießen University for three and a half years, he studied Theology and Orientalism. Remaining at Giessen, with the renown Bernhard Stade as his supervisor, Schwally completed a PhD in Old Testament Studies in 1888.