What was Trump's major at the University of Pennsylvania?
Executive summary
Donald J. Trump earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School in May 1968 [1][2]. Contemporary and retrospective profiles of Trump often emphasize his Wharton affiliation — sometimes styled as the “Wharton School of Finance” — and also record disputes and embellishments about his academic standing while enrolled there [3][4].
1. How the record reads: degree and school
The official and widely cited biographical records list Trump as graduating from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Science in economics in 1968 [1][2]; institutional and White House biographies likewise describe him as a Wharton undergraduate alumnus, often highlighting Wharton’s business focus in public-facing profiles [3].
2. The public shorthand and its propaganda uses
Across media and campaign messaging, Trump and his allies have repeatedly invoked the Wharton name — at times calling it the “Wharton School of Finance” — as shorthand for elite business training, a rhetorical move that amplifies perceived business credentials even though the formal transcript language is a Bachelor of Science in economics from Wharton [3][1].
3. What contemporaneous reporting and fact-checks say about his academic record
Investigations into contemporaneous records and reporting have pushed back on some of the loftier claims about Trump’s scholastic distinction: archival checks of commencement and Dean’s List records indicate he was not listed among students graduating with honors, undercutting claims that he finished at the top of his class [4]. Philadelphia magazine’s fact-checking reported specifically that Trump does not appear in the published lists of honors or the Dean’s List for 1968, a point used to contest promotional-era assertions about his academic rank [4].
4. Admissions context and lingering disputes
Reporting has also explored how Trump came to Wharton: profiles and interviews suggest family connections and admissions-era circumstances shaped his transfer from Fordham to Penn, with at least one account noting an admissions interviewer who was a family friend, and biographical sketches saying his transfer was in part to please his father — details that frame his Wharton attendance without altering the recorded academic major [5][2]. Those accounts are interpretive and draw on retrospective interviews and biographies rather than university-declared changes to his degree [5].
5. What this does — and does not — prove about competence or pedigree
The documented fact is narrow and clear: Trump’s undergraduate major at the University of Pennsylvania was economics, awarded through the Wharton School as a Bachelor of Science in 1968 [1][2]. Beyond that degree designation, debates about the meaning of a Wharton credential, whether Trump embellished class standing, and how family influence affected his admissions reflect divergent narratives promoted by biographies, institutional silence, and campaign messaging [4][6][3]. The sources consulted confirm the major and degree but differ on claims of honors and the motivations surrounding his transfer, and available reporting should be read with those distinctions in mind [4][5].