President Donald Trump has often bragged about attending University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
However, it turns out he might’ve gotten some help getting into what he calls “the hardest school to get into.”
The Washington Post spoke to James Nolan, a former admissions officer at Wharton who interviewed Trump in the 1960s, who described how Trump’s family lent a helping hand in the process.
Nolan said that Trump’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., had called him in 1966 asking for an interview with his brother.
“He called me and said, ‘You remember my brother Donald?’ Which I didn’t,” Nolan, told The Post. “He said, ‘He’s at Fordham and he would like to transfer to Wharton. Will you interview him?’ I was happy to do that.”
According to Nolan, Trump brought his father to the interview. Fred Trump Sr. then tried to “ingratiate” himself with the admissions officer.
Nolan was the only officer who was allowed to speak to Trump and give him a rating. Though he doesn’t remember what that rating was, “[I]t must have been decent enough to support his candidacy,” he said.
But only Nolan’s boss, who is now deceased, could make the final decision on Trump’s application.
Nolan also notes that it wasn’t particularly difficult to get into UPenn — which currently has an acceptance rate of 7.44 percent — at the time.
“I certainly was not struck by any sense that I’m sitting before a genius,” he told the Post. “Certainly not a super genius.”
