For decades, reports have described President Donald Trump as graduating “top of his class,” however, archives from his graduating class suggest otherwise.
Throughout the presidential campaign, Trump often bragged about attending Wharton Business School and has even said things like, it’s “the toughest place to get in to,” “I was an excellent student,”and “I’m a smart person.”
Although he has not said that he graduated top of his class, he did not dispute any of the reports that wrote about it, which includes reports in The New York Times.
In a previous interview, the new commander-in-chief has even insulted former President Barack Obama’s intelligence by saying, “I heard he was a terrible student, terrible. How does a bad student go to Columbia and then to Harvard?”
Obama graduated from Columbia University in New York in 1983 with a degree in political science before graduating with Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School.
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Records recently released by The University of Pennsylvania’s student-run paper The Daily Pennsylvanian shows the academic record of the class that graduated with the 45th President. According to a Penn spokesman, Ron Ozio, the University cannot release academic records of an alumni, however, a surfaced copy of the graduation program from the Penn Archives alone serve as proof of his academics.
The records reveal that Trump, who graduated from Wharton’s undergraduate program — then known as the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce, was not amongst the list of 56 students who made the top 15 percent of their graduating class.
The list verified by the University is identical to a list of the graduating class that was posted on social media last year.
The records show that Trump not only didn’t graduate top of his class but that there’s no indication on the commencement program that he graduated with any honors. His name did not appear on the list of cum laude, magna cum laude and two summa cum laude recipients for the Class of 1968.
In addition, their findings also share stories from students who attended the University at the same time as Trump. Stephen Foxman, who graduated in 68’, told The Daily Pennsylvanian, “If he had done well, his name would have shown up.”
Trump attended The University of Pennsylvania, one of the eight Ivy League institutions, after transferring from Fordham University. There, he received a bachelor’s degree in economics.
As written by biographist Gwenda Blair, Trump was admitted to Penn because of “an interview with a friendly Wharton admissions officer who was one of Freddy’s old high school classmates.”
“If he tries to claim he was first in the class, he should show his transcript,” Nancy Hano told the New York Daily News a few years ago.