Melissa Jones Hagemeister graduated magna cum laude from the honors program at the University of Memphis in 2002, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. In 2005, Melissa Jones Hagemeister earned her Juris Doctor degree from New England School of Law where she graduated cum laude. While at New England School of Law, she was an associate member of the New England Journal on Criminal and Civil Confinement from 2003-2004.

Melissa Jones Hagemeister worked as a title examiner for Attorney's Title Services during the spring and summers of 2003 and 2004. During the fall of her second year of law school, she worked as a legal intern at the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General Government Bureau/Trial Division. Through the Honors Judicial Internship program, Melissa Jones Hagemeister worked as a law clerk for the judges of the Boston Municipal Court in spring 2005.