Did Donald Trump submit SAT scores when applying to Wharton or was he admitted through other credentials?
Executive summary
There is no public, verifiable record of Donald Trump’s SAT scores; multiple reports say his records were kept private and that his former lawyer Michael Cohen threatened schools and the College Board to prevent disclosure [1] [2]. Allegations from Mary Trump that Trump paid Joe Shapiro to take the SAT on his behalf prompted Wharton professors to ask for an investigation, but available sources do not report any definitive proof that Trump submitted specific SAT scores to gain admission [3] [4] [5].
1. A missing paper trail: what the records show (and don’t)
No source in the supplied reporting produces an official SAT score or authenticated transcript for Donald Trump; commentators and news outlets note “no public details” of his SATs or grades and cite Cohen’s claim that he sent letters to block release of those records [1] [2]. Secondary compilations that list presidents’ test scores explicitly state there is no known SAT/ACT score for Trump [6]. In short: the public record contains assertions and denials, not a verified score [1] [6].
2. The niece’s allegation that triggered scrutiny
Mary Trump’s 2020 allegation — that Donald Trump paid a friend, Joe Shapiro, to sit for the SAT on his behalf and that he then used the higher score to transfer from Fordham to Wharton in 1966 — is the proximate source of renewed scrutiny [3] [4]. Poets&Quants and other outlets report that professors at Wharton asked university leadership to investigate these claims after the book’s publication [3] [4].
3. Wharton faculty response: calls for an investigation, not a verdict
At least six Wharton professors formally requested an inquiry into whether Trump fraudulently gained admission via a substituted SAT score; the calls for review reflect academic concern but are not equivalent to evidence of wrongdoing [3] [4]. Those faculty letters were reactionary: they sought Penn to use its authority to determine facts, but the sources do not record Penn producing a confirming investigation outcome [3] [4]. Available sources do not mention any final Penn finding.
4. Claims of legal intimidation over release of records
Michael Cohen testified and produced letters he says he wrote at Trump’s direction that threatened schools and the College Board with legal action to prevent release of Trump’s grades and SAT scores [2] [1]. Reporting treats Cohen’s disclosure as a plausible explanation for why academic records remain private; the presence of such letters is reported but does not, by itself, confirm what the scores were or whether they were falsified [2] [1].
5. Conflicting narratives and the limits of the evidence
Two competing narratives exist in the supplied reporting: (A) the allegation that Trump used a proxy test-taker to gain a higher SAT score and thus gain admission (sourced to Mary Trump and amplified by faculty calls for investigation) [3] [4]; (B) a scarcity defense — that Trump’s records simply are not publicly available and he has disputed claims when made, aided by legal threats to institutions [1] [2]. The supplied sources document allegations, requests for probes, and actions to keep records sealed, but they do not produce corroborating documentation of a substituted SAT score or an official Penn finding [3] [2] [1].
6. What would resolve the question — and what the sources don’t show
Conclusive resolution would require release of College Board test records, Fordham/Wharton admissions files, or an official Penn investigation report confirming misconduct. The current sources show calls for such disclosure and characterize obstacles to it, but they do not show that those records have been produced or that Penn has publicly validated the niece’s allegation [3] [2] [1]. Available sources do not mention any released SAT score or a completed, public university finding.
7. Why this matters beyond biography
If true, paying another to take a standardized test would be academic fraud and could retroactively cast doubt on an admissions decision; faculty ethics complaints reflect that implication and a reputational stake at Wharton [3] [4]. Conversely, secrecy around records—whether through legal threats or privacy protections—means public debate proceeds on allegations and secondary accounts rather than primary documents [2] [1].
Bottom line: reporting documents a serious allegation (Mary Trump), university faculty requests for investigation, and efforts by Trump’s camp (via Cohen’s account) to keep academic records private, but the supplied sources do not provide a verified SAT score, proof that Trump submitted a particular score to Wharton, or a concluded Penn investigation that confirms or refutes the claim [3] [4] [2] [1].