What Donald Trump Was Like When He Was In School

You may not have known it, but Donald Trump was shipped off to military school, a decision made by his father when the future president was only 13 years old. The environment was a hard shift for the multi-millionaire's son, according to Trump biographer Timothy O'Brien (via PBS), "He said to me that when he arrived at the military academy, for the first time in his life, someone slapped him in the face when he got out of line." Trump took this violent interaction as a means to build a foundation of school behavior built on aggression and power.

Marc Fisher, another Trump biographer, said of the president's school persona, "Donald Trump yelled at his classmates. He pushed them around," — a sentiment that would be further supported by an old classmate of the former "Apprentice" host, "All of us were part of this culture of you beat on kids when they didn't do the right thing." (via PBS)

His response should come as no surprise, given that Trump was initially sent away to the boarding school to adjust his misbehavior. As his niece Mary Trump wrote in her 2020 book "Too Much and Never Enough", "Finally, by 1959, Donald's misbehavior — fighting, bullying, arguing with teachers — had gone too far." (via Newsweek) Detractors would argue that Trump's proclivity for violence, abuse of power, and aggression toward classmates was a pillar erected in the core of the future president's mind that withstood the correctional attempts posed by the New York Military Academy. 

After graduating from the military academy, Donald Trump — with an elite reputation to uphold — sought out prestigious names in higher education to earn his degree from. First enrolling in Fordham the former "Miss Universe" owner would later transfer to Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

His egotistical demeanor set off red flags in his professors at the distinguished university, who spoke to one another about his bad behavior and less than stellar knowledge in the field. One scathing remark allegedly made by one of Trump's professors belittled the former "Apprentice" host, reportedly saying, (via Philadelphia Magazine) "Donald Trump was the dumbest goddamn student I ever had!"

Once again, the revelation supposedly made by the former Wharton teacher is not too shocking when reflecting on what Mary Trump had claimed about her uncle's admission to the ivy league college. "Donald worried that his grade point average, which put him far from the top of the class, would scuttle his efforts to get accepted," (via The Guardian) she wrote in her 2020 memoir, "To hedge his bets he enlisted Joe Shapiro, a smart kid with a reputation for being a good test taker, to take his SATs for him." The prestigious image that the future president was attempting to uphold crumbled further when his sister alleged she did his homework for him in an effort to help him get accepted into college. (via Washington Post.)