What evidence exists about Donald Trump’s class rank and GPA at Wharton?
Executive summary
The available documentary evidence and reporting do not support Donald Trump’s repeated claim that he graduated “first in his class” at Wharton; contemporaneous Wharton records show he graduated without honors and his name does not appear on the published Dean’s List or honors lists for 1968 [1] [2]. Contemporary classmates, university programs and later fact-checking journalists conclude his GPA was not high enough for honors — implying a GPA of 3.40 or lower under Wharton rules — but no complete, official public transcript with a numerical GPA has been produced [2] [3] [4] [5].
1. The claim: “first in his class” — origin and corrections
The oft-repeated line that Trump graduated first in his Wharton class appears to have originated in early profiles and was echoed for years in news coverage, but later reporting and university documents contradicted it; Philadelphia magazine notes the New York Times itself relied on the claim in a 1973 profile and ultimately corrected the record when Penn commencement material showed no evidence of a first-in-class designation [1]. The Daily Pennsylvanian and other outlets point to the commencement program and archival materials showing Trump graduated in 1968 but “without honors,” undermining the literal truth of the “first in his class” formulation [2] [3].
2. What the Wharton records actually show
A scanned 1968 commencement program and Wharton archival lists obtained and reported by student journalists and local outlets list award winners and the names of students graduating cum laude, magna cum laude and summa cum laude, and Trump’s name does not appear among those honored [2] [3]. The class Dean’s List published in 1968 listed 56 students (about the top 15 percent) and Trump’s name was not included, which reporters have used as evidence he was not a top-ranked undergraduate academically [2].
3. Inference about GPA and honors thresholds
Reporters and fact-checkers note Wharton’s honors cutoff (as reported in secondary sources) is a GPA of roughly 3.40, and because Trump did not graduate with honors his GPA must have been at or below that threshold — leading multiple outlets to describe his grade point average as “average or below average” for the program [4] [6]. That inference is indirect: it rests on the honors rules and the published absence of Trump’s name from honors lists, not on an official numerical GPA disclosed by the university [4] [2].
4. Eyewitness and anecdotal testimony from classmates and faculty
Several classmates and at least one long-tenured former professor have been quoted disparaging Trump’s academic performance or engagement at Wharton — reporting recollections that he did not stand out as a top student and, in one colorful anecdote, a professor calling him “the dumbest…student I ever had” — but these are personal recollections and characterizations rather than documentary proof of a precise class rank or GPA [7] [3]. Classmates’ memories corroborate the archival absence from honor lists but cannot substitute for an official transcript.
5. Limits of the public record and lingering ambiguity
No complete, official Wharton transcript publicly released by the university has provided a definitive numeric GPA or class-rank listing; a partial transcript or grade list surfaced in a student paper and various secondary websites have speculated on GPA ranges, but the most reliable public evidence remains the university commencement program and Dean’s List, which show no honors designation for Trump [5] [2]. Because of that gap, conclusions rest on negative evidence (absence from honor lists) and credible contemporary reporting rather than a disclosed grade-point average.
Conclusion
Taken together, the contemporaneous Wharton commencement materials, the published Dean’s List and multiple fact-checks rebut the “first in his class” claim and indicate Trump did not graduate with honors — implying a GPA at or below Wharton’s honors cutoff — but the precise numerical GPA and an official class rank are not publicly documented in a full university transcript available to reporters, leaving a small factual gap in the public record [2] [1] [4].