On 2 April 2019, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a "young bartender" during a fundraising dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Trump was, of course, hardly the first to paint Ocasio-Cortez as inexperienced or unqualified for her position in Congress. Ever since she became the youngest woman to be elected to that legislative body during the 2018 midterm elections, we've encountered dozens of posts about her résumé.
One of the biggest talking points among Ocasio-Cortez's detractors is that she is uneducated. For example, Fox News' Tucker Carlson labeled her a "moron" during a segment on his show, the Powerline blog published an article under the rhetorical title "HOW DUMB IS OCASIO-CORTEZ?" and numerous social media users have posted their own derogatory comments insulting the congresswoman's intelligence.
This rhetoric likely helped sow the seeds of doubt over Ocasio-Cortez's academic record. One email we received here at Snopes, for instance, questioned whether the congresswoman truly had an economics degree: "Much to do about AOC -- Ocasio Cortez -- of late and questions about her college degree? We read she actually did not get an econ degree, but an International Relations degree. If so, much of her credibility is in question. What is real here?"
The satirical Babylon Bee added a bit more confusion to the situation when they latched onto the criticism and published an article stating that the congresswoman's economics degree had been revoked.
Here is the reality: Ocasio-Cortez truly graduated cum laude from Boston University in 2011. In an article about distinguished alumni, the university wrote that "Ocasio-Cortez graduated from Boston University in 2011 with a BA in International Relations and Economics."
We reached out to the university to clarify the issue: Did she earn a degree in international relations with a focus in economics? Or did she major in both international relations and economics? They indicated that the latter was true.
A spokesperson for the university told us: "She graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with two majors in International Relations and Economics. Latin Honors awarded was cum laude that is not tied to an individual major but the degree."
A spokesperson for the congresswoman added: "She was awarded a double major [degree] in both International Relations and Economics."
It seems relevant to note that possessing a college degree is not a requirement for becoming a member of the House of Representatives in the U.S. Congress. The only constitutional requirements are that members must be U.S. citizens, residents of the areas they represent, and at least 25 years of age. While the majority of Congressmembers do have college degrees, a profile of the 115th Congress published in December 2018 found that 18 members of the U.S. House of Representatives had no educational degree beyond a high school diploma.
The congresswoman's college years weren't the only part of her résumé that had been called into question -- we've also received queries about internships, science projects, and asteroids. A popular meme posted to the Facebook page "Occupy Democrats" summed up a few of the claims about Ocasio-Cortez's alleged accomplishments:
The claims made in this meme are largely accurate.
In high school, she won 2nd place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
Before she became a congresswoman, Ocasio-Cortez was a high school student with an interest in microbiology. While the statement reproduced above is largely accurate, we have one small caveat about it: Ocasio-Cortez won second place in the microbiology category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), not second place overall for the entire fair.
The Society for Science and the Public, the organization that hosts ISEF, wrote about Ocasio-Cortez's accomplishment in a 7 November 2018 article and congratulated their former contestant on her congressional victory:
