Wilson could not read until he was nearly ten years old because he suffered from dyslexia. However, he attended school at age twelve in Columbia, South Carolina. He received tutoring from a minister at the Presbyterian seminary at which his father worked. His studies improved enough that he entered Davidson College at age sixteen in 1873. Failing health required him to drop out after one year. He reentered college in 1875 at the College of New Jersey (now called Princeton). There, he excelled in public speaking, edited The Princetonian, and graduated in 1879.