with a focus in Hebrew, hoping to become a clergyman as his father had. However, after enrolling in a phonetics class taught by Pliny Earle Goddard and assisting with fieldwork on Pacific Coast Athabaskan languages, Waterman developed a strong interest in anthropology. Waterman completed his bachelor's degree in 1907.

According to Susan Marie Wood, after graduating he secured a position at the University of California's Museum of Anthropology