A year ago, all eyes were on Barron Trump and his college choice.
At the time, the sole child of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump had just received his high school diploma from Oxbridge Academy near West Palm Beach, Florida.
A year later, there’s still interest about Barron Trump and his college choice.
And in both cases, his father plays a role.
When Barron Trump made his Trump rally speech debut in July 2024 in Florida amid the presidential election, his famous father used that opportunity to mention his youngest son’s choice of college. Throughout the election, Donald Trump would drop occasional hints about Barron’s college plans.
The world found out which college Barron Trump chose when he arrived at New York University’s campus the day after Labor Day, flanked by Secret Service. Like his mother, Melania Trump, Barron Trump has kept a low profile since the election and Inauguration Day festivities, with few public appearances. He followed that pattern with freshman year at NYU, which ended earlier this month.
His father, however, has made it known he is not happy with another famous college − Harvard University.
Harvard is one of several universities targeted by the Trump administration, which alleges schools aren’t doing enough to protect Jewish students. Harvard has defied the administration’s orders and filed multiple lawsuits to fight the blowback. On May 27, the New York Times and CNN reported that the Trump administration is poised to cancel the remaining federal contracts with Harvard, worth an estimated $100 million in total.
The fierce fight has led to questions about Trump’s personal history with Harvard. For example, some have wondered whether Barron Trump was rejected from the university.
At that July 9, 2024, Trump rally at Trump National Doral Golf Club in Miami, Florida − Barron Trump’s first foray into the political spotlight as an adult − the then-presidential candidate said Barron Trump is “now going to college, got into every college he wanted to. He made his choice and he is a very good guy.”
Did Barron Trump apply to Harvard University? Did Harvard make Barron Trump’s list of “every college he wanted” to attend? Here’s what we know.
Where does Barron Trump go to college?
Barron Trump, the youngest son of President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, will be a sophomore at New York University’s Stern School of Business in fall 2025. He started classes in September 2024 and is projected to graduate with the class of 2028.
Barron Trump graduated high school May 17, 2024, from Oxbridge Academy near West Palm Beach, Florida.
When did Barron Trump apply to NYU?
Rumors about Barron Trump wanting to attend NYU were rampant in April 2024. According to Washington Square News, NYU’s student newspaper, the university sent acceptance letters by March 28. In an April 2024 story online, the NYU student newspaper reported NYU had 118,000 applicants for the class of 2028 with an acceptance rate of 8%.
May 6, 2025, marked the end of spring 2025 classes there.
Why did Barron Trump choose NYU for college?
The 19-year-old Barron Trump broke away from family tradition by attending NYU over the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where his father and half-siblings have ties (see below).
His parents never disclosed why he chose NYU over University of Penn or Georgetown, but the main campus is in Manhattan, where Barron Trump spent much of his childhood — and lived until his father was sworn in as the 45th president in early 2017.
A day after Jan. 20, 2025, or Inauguration Day, one of the few public appearances by Barron Trump since his father won a second term in office, spring classes at NYU resumed. Barron Trump is back at Trump Tower while he’s in school.
Did Barron Trump apply to Harvard University? Did Barron Trump get rejected from Harvard?
According to Harvard University’s profile on the class of 2028, Harvard reported 54,008 applicants with only 1,970 admitted.
Did Barron Trump apply to Harvard?
No. According to the first lady’s office, Barron Trump never applied to Harvard.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” Nick Clemens, spokesperson for the Office of the First Lady, said in an emailed statement to the USA TODAY Network.
Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Why is Trump fighting with Harvard?
Trump has threatened to withhold funding from several universities in the U.S. if they do not follow federal directives, all under the banner of fighting antisemitism. He has alleged the institutions did not do enough to combat antisemitism during the protests against the war in Gaza, which brought allegations of both antisemitism and Islamaphobia.
Harvard, however, had refused the administration’s orders, which included ending all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs within the school, hiring an external auditor to review the school’s groups to ensure diverse ideological viewpoints, and update admissions processes to prevent admitting students “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence.”
Defying the orders has put billions of dollars worth of federal funding and its tax-exempt status at risk.
The Trump administration also recently attempted to prohibit the school from enrolling international students, which was blocked by a federal judge.
Where did Donald Trump go to college?
President Donald Trump graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
Barron Trump’s half-siblings — Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and Eric Trump (born to Donald Trump and the late Ivana Trump) and Tiffany Trump (born to Donald Trump and Marla Maples) — each have ties to the University of Pennsylvania or Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Barron Trump, the youngest son of Donald Trump and Melania Trump: His life in photos
Where did Melania Trump attend college?
Melania Trump, former first lady of the U.S. from 2017 to 2021, briefly attended college, but never graduated. Then Melania Knauss, the Slovenian “began modeling at age 16, and two years later she signed on with an agency in Milan. She enrolled at the University of Ljubljana but dropped out after one year to pursue her modeling career,” according to the Melania Trump bio on biography.com.
In her early days of modeling, the site states, Melania Trump worked in Milan and Paris before moving to New York in 1996. She met future husband Donald Trump two years later at a New York fashion party. (The Trumps were engaged in 2004 and married in 2005.)
Melania Trump, then known professionally as Melania Knauss, appeared on the covers of Harper’s Bazaar (Bulgaria edition), Vanity Fair (Italy edition), GQ (for which she posed nude in January 2000) and the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.
The University of Ljubljana, or UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia.
Contributing: Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Did Barron Trump apply to Harvard? Where did Melania go to college?
