Did Donald Trump graduate at the top of his class from the University of Pennsylvania?
Executive summary
Donald J. Trump did not graduate "top of his class" from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania; contemporary archival records from Penn’s 1968 commencement and Dean’s List do not include his name among honor graduates or the top 15 percent of the class [1] [2]. Longstanding media repetition and Trump's own public claims created the myth, but primary documents and reporting by Penn sources contradict the assertion [3] [4].
1. The simple answer: no—archival evidence shows he was not listed among the honors or top students
University of Pennsylvania commencement materials and the Wharton lists for the Class of 1968, obtained and published by Penn's student paper and later reported widely, name the cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude recipients as well as the Dean’s List representing roughly the top 15 percent, and Donald Trump does not appear on those lists [1] [2]. Multiple outlets that reviewed the 1968 graduation program and Dean’s List concluded that Trump did not graduate with academic honors and was not among the formally recognized top performers of his cohort [5] [6].
2. How the "top of his class" claim spread—and why records matter
The idea that Trump finished first in his class appears in old profiles and was repeated in national reporting for decades, including a 1973 New York Times profile that asserted he was “graduated first in his class,” a claim that contemporary Penn documents contradict [3]. Reporters and later fact-checkers note that some confusion also stems from conflating Wharton's prestigious MBA program rankings with an undergraduate claim about Trump, but the specific evidence—Penn’s own graduation program and Dean’s List—says he was not on the honors roster [4] [3].
3. Trump’s public statements versus Penn’s documentation
Trump has at times touted his Wharton degree and implied exceptional academic standing, and his book and campaign remarks emphasize Wharton as a credential, but documented primary sources remain the decisive counterpoint: the 1968 commencement program lists all students who earned Latin honors and other awards and does not include his name [7] [1]. Penn spokespeople note university policy restricts releasing individual alumni academic records, which makes the publicly available commencement program and contemporaneous Dean’s List the clearest evidence accessible to researchers and reporters [2] [5].
4. Alternative viewpoints, limitations and journalistic context
Supporters of Trump have argued over the years that absence from an honors list is not proof of poor performance and that transfer students or administrative quirks might explain discrepancies, but available reporting from The Daily Pennsylvanian, Poets&Quants, PhillyMag and others rests on the actual 1968 documents and contemporaneous accounts from classmates and professors who recall his middling academic reputation [1] [8] [6]. It is also important to acknowledge a reporting limitation: Penn will not release private grades or a transcript without consent, so while the public records cited show he did not graduate with honors or on the Dean’s List, a full transcript is not publicly available to independently verify every course grade or exact class rank [2] [5].
5. Bottom line and why the distinction matters
The record-based bottom line is direct: the University of Pennsylvania’s published commencement program and Dean’s List for 1968 do not support the claim that Donald Trump graduated at the top of his Wharton class, and multiple reputable outlets that examined Penn archives have reported this finding [1] [2] [5]. The persistence of the "top of his class" narrative illustrates how early reporting and self-promotion can ossify into accepted lore, but archival documents remain the corrective — and they do not back the claim.