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What evidence exists about Donald Trump's academic performance in school and college?
Executive summary
Available reporting shows little public documentation of Donald Trump’s detailed grades, GPA or SAT scores because his schools have not released full transcripts; investigators and journalists have instead relied on yearbooks, commencement programs, contemporaneous accounts and testimony that together suggest he did not graduate with honors from Wharton and that his camp tried to block release of records [1] [2]. Multiple outlets recount efforts by Trump’s lawyer to threaten schools against disclosing records and reports that a New York Military Academy transcript was hidden in 2011 [2] [3].
1. What the official records that are publicly cited actually show — Wharton degree but no honors listed
The University of Pennsylvania’s publicly available commencement materials and reporting by Penn student journalists indicate Trump graduated from Wharton in 1968 but did not appear on lists of honors or the Dean’s List, which suggests he did not graduate with honors or in the top 15% of his class [1] [4]. Journalists and university spokespeople say universities generally will only confirm degree, date and major for alumni and will not release grades without consent, limiting what can be proven from official Penn records alone [1].
2. Contemporaneous eyewitness and faculty recollections — mixed and anecdotal
Longtime Penn faculty and classmates have been quoted criticizing Trump’s academic standing; one quoted professor reportedly told a biographer that Trump was “the dumbest goddamn student I ever had,” a strong anecdotal judgment reported in secondary accounts collected by researchers and commentators [5]. Classmate reporting in The Daily Pennsylvanian found classmates disputing claims that Trump graduated near the top of his class and pointed to his absence from honor rolls as documentary support [1]. These memories are valuable but are anecdotal rather than a replacement for transcripts.
3. Attempts to suppress or shield records — legal threats and concealment
Public reporting and testimony by Michael Cohen state that Trump directed his lawyer to send letters threatening legal action if schools or testing agencies released his grades or SAT scores; a copy of such a letter to Fordham was submitted to Congress and is cited in news reporting [2]. Separate reporting says school officials were pressured in 2011 to remove Trump’s NYMA transcript from ordinary student files and place it in private custody, with an academy employee describing efforts to “bury” the record [3]. These accounts document active measures to control access to academic records.
4. What investigative journalists and commentators conclude from indirect evidence
Analysts and outlets such as Forbes, The Independent, The Daily Pennsylvanian and others have used commencement rosters, yearbooks and admissions-era reporting to infer that Trump’s academic performance was not as stellar as some of his public claims; for example, Forbes has noted that Wharton’s criteria for honors suggest his GPA would have had to be below a typical honors threshold [6] [1]. These conclusions are interpretive: they combine incomplete documentary evidence with institutional rules about honors to estimate likely outcomes rather than producing a transcript-level accounting.
5. What is not available in current reporting — the granular numbers
Available sources do not provide Trump’s GPA at Wharton, his exact college or high‑school grades, or his SAT/ACT scores in a publicly released transcript format; major outlets report this absence and the legal/FERPA constraints that typically prevent schools from disclosing such data without consent [2] [1]. Where claims about specific GPAs or test scores circulate, they stem from indirect inference or unnamed leaks rather than confirmed, fully documented academic records in the cited reporting [6].
6. Competing explanations and motives to consider
There are competing narratives in the sources: some of Trump’s public statements portray him as a top student at Wharton, while Penn’s materials and classmates contradict that claim [1] [4]. At the same time, the Trump camp’s aggressive legal posture in 2015–2016 and the reported retrieval of transcripts from NYMA in 2011 suggest a motive to control a personal narrative; this could reflect concern about modest grades, privacy preferences, or other strategic considerations [2] [3]. Different sources emphasize either privacy law constraints or the substantive implication that his academic record did not match public boasts.
7. Bottom line for readers seeking evidence
The strongest documented facts in reporting are: Trump graduated from Wharton in 1968 (commencement records) and his name did not appear on published honor rolls for that class, implying no honors distinction [1] [4]; his legal team sent letters threatening institutions not to disclose records [2]; and reporting alleges that at least one high‑school transcript was removed from ordinary storage [3]. Precise grade-point averages, class rank and standardized test scores are not publicly documented in the cited sources [2] [1].