What was Donald J. Trump's major and academic standing at Wharton School in 1968
Executive summary
Donald J. Trump graduated from the Wharton School in May 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics, but available university records and contemporaneous listings do not show him graduating with honors or on Wharton’s Dean’s List; multiple student‑newspaper and reporting efforts conclude he did not rank near the top of his class [1] [2] [3]. The University of Pennsylvania also maintains a policy of not releasing detailed alumni grades or GPAs, so precise class rank or GPA for Trump is not publicly available [4] [2].
1. The official, narrow facts: degree and year
University and biographical records consistently list Donald Trump as a Wharton graduate in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science in economics; that specific fact is repeatedly cited in profiles and entries about him [1]. Penn spokespeople have said the university will only confirm date of graduation, degree and major for alumni — they will not release transcripts or GPAs publicly [2] [4].
2. What contemporaneous Wharton documents show
Researchers and The Daily Pennsylvanian obtained a 1968 commencement program and Dean’s List that named students graduating with honors and those on the Dean’s List; those published lists do not include Trump’s name among the honors recipients or the Dean’s List for that year [2] [3]. Reporting based on those primary documents therefore concludes Trump “graduated without honors” in 1968 [2] [3].
3. The claim Trump has repeated: “first in my class”
Trump has long told audiences he graduated at or near the top of his Wharton class, a line that became part of his public narrative and was repeated in some 1970s media profiles [5]. Investigations by student reporters and later press reporting found no corroboration in the contemporaneous Penn lists for that claim and dispute the idea that he graduated “first in his class” [2] [5].
4. Why there remains uncertainty about class rank or GPA
Even though newspapers found the commencement program and Dean’s List that omitted him, the university’s privacy policy prevents independent confirmation of grades, GPA or class rank for individual alumni unless Penn chooses to release them. That institutional privacy rule is the proximate cause of the continuing lack of an official transcript‑level record in the public domain [4] [2].
5. Competing narratives and sources
Contemporaneous press and later biographies sometimes amplified different versions: some 1970s articles reported Trump as graduating “first in his class,” while Penn’s contemporaneous commencement materials and classmates contest that account [5] [2]. Critics and some Wharton faculty have since raised additional questions—ranging from whether family connections aided his admission to more explosive allegations about test‑taking—but those are separate controversies and remain subject to differing claims and calls for investigation [5] [6] [7].
6. What reliable reporting does not show
Available sources do not provide a published GPA, formal class rank, or an official university statement that Trump graduated at the top of his class; they also do not document any university action reversing or changing the 1968 degree record itself [2] [4] [3]. Allegations about cheating on the SAT or fraud in admission have been reported and prompted calls for inquiry by some Wharton professors, but those claims are contested and investigative outcomes are not settled in the materials provided [7] [6].
7. How to read the evidence: transparency, prestige and messaging
The factual core is narrow and uncontested: Trump holds a 1968 Wharton BS in economics [1]. The broader public dispute arises because Wharton’s privacy rules stop short of publishing grades, while contemporaneous graduation lists do not list him among honors students or the Dean’s List—leaving a gap between Trump’s long‑repeated boast of being “first in his class” and what the public documents show [2] [4]. Different outlets emphasize different implications: student‑paper reporting underscores documentary absence from honors lists [2] [3]; some commentators and professors press for further probes into admissions integrity [7] [6].
Limitations: university privacy policy prevents confirmation of exact GPA or rank; primary sources in the public record are the 1968 program and Dean’s List as reported by The Daily Pennsylvanian and related press [2] [3]. For specifics beyond those documents—precise GPA or administrative notes—available sources do not mention them [4] [2].