So how did Barack Obama fare in college?

It’s unclear how well he did as an undergraduate, although he was not a distinguished student. Obama refuses to release his transcript from his undergraduate years. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, Obama was not well-known among classmates after he transferred to Columbia University from Occidental College in the early 1980s. The article quotes a former roommate who states that Obama’s performance improved after he stopped taking drugs (which Obama has admitted to openly). Since Obama did not graduate with honors, that means his GPA was between a 2.0 and a 3.3 — although, since he was admitted to Harvard Law School, it’s hard to imagine his GPA was much lower than a 3.3.

Obama graduated from Columbia in 1983 with a degree in political science. He specialized in international relations.

Law school was another story for Obama. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School (the second highest honor available) in 1991. He also was the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, a very prestigious honor.

Read more about Barack Obama’s educational background, or read about the educational records of John McCain, Joe Biden, and Sarah Palin.

Common Misspellings: Barak Obama, Barac Obama, Barack Obamma

Posted on October 7th, 2008 by Naomi

Tags: barack obama, college records, columbia university, harvard law

Posted in Celebrities, Politics | 56 Comments »