In 1938 she enrolled at the Institute of Fine Arts in New York University, studying for a master's degree with Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann as her advisor. Her thesis was to be on the relationship between Palmyrene sculpture and the sculpture of the Roman near east. It was while studying there that Lehmann first suggested to Goell that she should explore Nemrud Dagh, the excavations of which were to become her life's work. Goell continued to study at the Institute for Fine Arts and at Columbia until 1945. During the Second World War, she also worked to contribute to the American war effort, working as a draftswoman for various engineering firms under contract to the US Navy, which interrupted her studies.
