Trump Says He Went to “Ivy League”, Has a High IQ, and Was “First in My Class”…So We Checked The Dean’s List “People don’t understand, I went to an Ivy League college. I was a nice student,” Trump told reporters Wednesday. “I did very well. I’m a very intelligent person.” Later, pointing to his head, he added: “One of the great memories of all time.” Well, not only did Trump NOT go to an Ivy League school, we have some evidence that his college professors may not have thought much of him either. “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had.” Those are the words of the late Wharton professor William T. Kelley, who had Trump in class. Kelley made the comment while Trump was already a public figure, but had not yet ventured into politics. Professor William T. Kelley taught Marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance, University of Pennsylvania, for 31 years, where he retired after in 1982. Frank DiPrima says Dr. Bill was one of my closest friends for 47 years when we lost him at 94 about six years ago. Bill would have been 100 this year. Donald J. Trump was an undergraduate student at Wharton for the latter two of his college years, having been graduated in 1968. www.thedp.com Daily Kos reports:
Professor Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” I remember his emphasis and inflection — it went like this — “Donald Trump was the dumbest goddam student I ever had.” Dr. Kelley told me this after Trump had become a celebrity but long before he was considered a political figure. Dr. Kelley often referred to Trump’s arrogance when he told of this — that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything. Trump has long touted his being at the top of his class – which has been disproven – and just recently touted how high IQ is by challenging the Secretary of State of the United States to an I.Q. contest after he was called a “moron” – or a “fucking moron” as reported by Slate. Dr. Kelley’s view seems to be shared by other University of Pennsylvanians. Please see www.thedp.com/…, from the Daily Pennsylvanian, stating: Another biographer, Gwenda Blair, wrote in 2001 that Trump was admitted to Wharton on a special favor from a “friendly” admissions officer. The officer had known Trump’s older brother, Freddy. Trump’s classmates doubt that the real estate mogul was an academic powerhouse. “He was not in any kind of leadership. I certainly doubt he was the smartest guy in the class,” said Steve Perelman, a 1968 Wharton classmate and a former Daily Pennsylvanian news editor. Some classmates speculated that Trump skipped class, others that he commuted to New York on weekends. . . . 1968 Wharton graduate Louis Calomaris recalled that “Don … was loath to really study much.” Calomaris said Trump would come to study groups unprepared and did not “seem to care about being prepared.” Tillerson and Dr. Kelley are both right. Important little fact check… Trump: “I was first in my class.” Fact Check: False. Trump has long claimed that he was first in his class at Wharton in 1968. It’s simply not true. In fact, the Dean’s list from Wharton, 1968, doesn’t include the name “Trump” either, meaning not only was he not first in his class, he wasn’t in the top 15%. Pages from the 212th Commencement show President Donald Trump as a 1968 Wharton graduate, but that he graduated without honors. The Daily Pennsylvanian reports: “I recognize virtually all the names on that list, ” 1968 Wharton graduate Stephen Foxman said, “and Trump just wasn’t one of them.” 1968 Wharton graduate Jon Hillsberg added that there was no indication on the 1968 Commencement Program that Trump graduated with any honors. A copy of the program acquired from the Penn Archives lists 20 Wharton award and prize recipients, 15 cum laude recipients, four magna cum laude recipients and two summa cum laude recipients for the Class of 1968. Trump’s name appears nowhere on those lists. “If he had done well, his name would have shown up,” Foxman said.