Requirements & Deliverables
REQUIREMENTS
CREATE REVIEWR ACCOUNT
Detailed instructions for Reviewr were emailed on Wednesday, October 2, 2024.
The instructions were sent to the student team leader and advisor. Instructions will also be posted on WInS. We strongly recommend the student team leader take on this responsibility especially if the advisor is overseeing more than one team. Your final roster of team members, midterm report, school documentation and final report must all be submitted via Reviewr. Please make sure your team follows the instructions.
MEET TRADE DEADLINE
Friday, October 18, 2024, no later than 4:00 p.m. ET (Close of U.S. markets)
All teams must fully execute at least one trade on WInS by close of the U.S. markets (4:00 p.m. ET) in order to be eligible to advance to the Semifinals and Global Finale.
SUBMIT TEAM ROSTER
Friday, October 25, 2024, no later than 5:00 p.m. ET
Official team rosters detailing your team members must be submitted via Reviewr; no changes are permitted after this date. You are required to provide:
- First and Last Name for each team member (minimum of four; maximum of seven)
- Email address for each team member
- Expected graduation year for each team member
- First and Last Name for Advisor
- School-issued email address for Advisor
- Preferred email address for Advisor
- Official Team Name (Note: Teams will be able to enter an official team name at the end of the midterm report form. Teams should choose their names and have fun with it. Please use good judgment. Team names that use offensive or vulgar language, as determined by the Wharton Global Youth Program in its sole discretion, may be automatically disqualified.)
SUBMIT SCHOOL DOCUMENTATION
Friday, December 13, 2024, no later than 5:00 p.m. ET
We require official documentation from your school to ensure your team is in compliance with the Competition Rules. Do not wait until the last minute to request documentation. This will be submitted along with your Final Report as a separate file.
The school documentation must be:
- Written and signed by a school administrator (NOT your advisor).
- Be on official school letterhead.
- Include:
- The names of each student on the team and the advisor.
- Statement that all students and the advisor are affiliated with the school and have permission to participate.
- No longer than one page.
Here is a template school administrators can use to provide Official School Documentation: Download Official School Documentation Template.
DELIVERABLES
MIDTERM REPORT
Friday, November 8, 2024, no later than 5:00 p.m. ET
Your Midterm Report must adhere to the directions outlined below. Teams are not permitted to deviate from these directions. Any Midterm Report that does not follow the directions will be removed from semifinal consideration.
The Midterm Report is essentially the foundation of your Final Report and will be evaluated.
Your team investment strategy is the essence of the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition. An investment strategy serves as a roadmap to guide your team’s financial decisions, helping you achieve Ladi’s financial goals efficiently while managing risks and emotions.
Need some help? Be sure to review these helpful resources we have developed:
Lesson Plans
Student Learning Materials
Must include:
- WInS username (including numeric extension i.e. myteamaccount-1234567)
- Team User ID number (ADVISORS can locate a team’s 7-digit User ID number by logging on to their WInS advisor account and clicking on the ‘Admin’ tab, then clicking ‘Instructor Administration’)
- Advisor’s name, preferred email and school email (should be the same as what was submitted on October 25)
- Team leader’s name and email (should be the same as what was submitted on October 25)
- Team member names (should be the same as what was submitted on October 25)
- Official team name (should be the same as what was submitted on October 25)
Must include:
- A sector-diversified portfolio in WInS, as specified in the competition rules
- As a minimum requirement, each team must be invested in as many sectors as they have team members. (E.g., Five team members = You must be invested in five different sectors on WInS. Six team members = Six different sectors, etc.)
- Your portfolio must also include at least one ETF
- Follow these steps to take the necessary screenshots of your portfolio on WInS:
- Go to ‘Portfolio Simulation’ and click ‘Graph My Portfolio’
- Look to the right of the page for ‘Portfolio Charts’ and select the ‘Symbols’ chart. This will show you a breakdown of the symbols in your portfolio. Take a screenshot of this chart.
- See example:
- In the bottom right corner of the Symbols chart, you will find an Excel export button (pictured in the red box above). Click that button and then open the downloaded CSV file.
- Take a screenshot of the portfolio data shown in the downloaded CSV file. See example:
On this page, you must concisely communicate your team’s strategy in two short paragraphs.
- Explain your investment strategy in a maximum of 150 words. What’s your “elevator pitch” to your client?
- Explain what makes your investment strategy unique compared to other teams in a maximum of 100 words.
- NOTHING ELSE SHOULD GO ON THIS PAGE.
- Audience: Your report should be directed to Wharton Global Asset Management’s (WGAM) portfolio manager (your team’s teacher/advisor).
- 3 pages maximum
- 12-point font; Times New Roman
- Double spaced
- 1-inch margins
- Each page must include a page number in the bottom left corner
- Submit in doc or pdf format, not exceeding 5MB
FINAL REPORT
Friday, December 13, 2024, no later than 5:00 p.m. ET
Your Final Report must adhere to the directions outlined below. Teams are not permitted to deviate from these directions. Any Final Report that does not follow the directions will be removed from semifinal consideration.
Your Final Report should build upon your team’s strategy outlined in the Midterm Report.
Must include:
- Official team name (this should be the same as what you submitted with your official team roster)
- School Name, City, State (if applicable), and Country
- Advisor’s name. Title at school (teacher, principal, etc.) and email
- Team leader’s name and email
- Finalized team member names (these should be the same as what was submitted with your official roster unless you received written permission from us to change your team roster)
- WInS Username (the team’s username to log into the WInS platform).
- User ID number (ADVISORS – each team’s User ID number can be located by having the advisor log on to their Advisor WInS account and click on the ‘Admin’ tab, then ‘Instructor Administration’. The User ID is the 7-Digit number located under ‘User ID’).
This must be written by the advisor. Advisors play a key role in the competition and we want to read your reflections on how your team has progressed together over the last 10 weeks.
- Describe in 150 words or less your takeaways from this team’s competition experience.
- This page can be single-spaced, but you must adhere to all other requirements.
- No other content should go on this page.
What Was Your Team’s Decision-making Process?
The purpose of this section is to explain your decision-making process throughout the trading period.
- Choose three (3) Trading Notes from your portfolio in WInS
- One related to an ETF on the Approved List
- One related to a stock on the Approved List
- One related to a stock NOT on the Approved List (NOTE: If your team only included stocks from the Approved Stock List – which is acceptable – this can be another from the Approved Stock List.)
- Include the trading notes and then, in 100 words or less for EACH note, reflect on how they informed your understanding and design of your final strategy.
- You must use a note from a trade you made on WInS. Yes, we will check to verify.
- Note: The Trading Notes you select do not necessarily have to be for companies you recommend to Ladi in your final recommended portfolio. However, you should be able to confidently identify why and how these trades informed your team’s overall strategy as it evolved throughout the competition.
On pages 5 and 6, provide a visual breakdown of your portfolio with specific statistics, then provide the context for your decisions.
You must include two graphic/visual portfolio snapshots:
- Your team’s WInS Portfolio
- Your team’s Final Recommended Portfolio for Ladi
You must provide more context about your portfolio by answering one of the following questions in 150 words or less:
- Why are your WInS Portfolio and Recommended Portfolio for Ladi the same?
- Why are your WInS Portfolio and Recommended Portfolio for Ladi different?
Note: Your team’s WInS Portfolio and Final Recommended Portfolio for Ladi can be the same. Whether your Final Recommended Portfolio is the same as your WInS Portfolio or not, it should still only include investment recommendations of cash, stocks, ETFs and U.S. Treasury Bonds from the approved lists, and stocks from outside the approved stock list (no more than 30%) allowed within the competition rules.
Required statistics in each portfolio snapshot:
Please be sure to refer to Competition Rules.
- Sectors and percentage of the portfolio held in each sector
- Remember, the Approved Stock List is organized using the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®), which includes 11 economic sectors. Your portfolio must follow this structure.
- Stock(s) held in each sector and percentage of the portfolio allocated to each stock.
- ETFs held (your portfolio must include at least one).
- Any U.S. Treasury Bonds recommended for your client and percentage of the portfolio recommended in each.
- Percentage of the portfolio remaining in cash, if any.
- You may use visual tables or charts, but please do not use sentences or paragraphs.
- You may include other statistics, such as total portfolio return on this page, but do not include information about your investment strategy on this page – this page should simply provide an overview of your portfolio-at-a-glance.
Note: For the purposes of the competition, diversification is prioritized as having active stock investments in different Sectors. Your team is required to be invested in individual stocks in at least as many Sectors as the number of students on your team, along with at least one ETF. Further (but not required) diversification could look like diversifying your portfolio by market capitalization, different exchanges, and industries.
This section is the bulk of your report. It should include your team’s analysis, decision making, investment strategy, etc. Be creative!
- This section must be a minimum of 5 pages.
- In this case, your team’s total page count would be 11 pages (not including works cited page).
- This section can be a maximum of 8 pages.
- In this case, your team’s total page count would be 14 pages (not including works cited page).
- Reports that go over or under this range will not be reviewed. Reports that do not meet the minimum page requirement will not be eligible to receive participation certificates.
- Please see the Evaluation Criteria outlined at the bottom of the page for more information on what should be included in the Report Details section and how the final report will be graded.
- Audience: Your report should be directed to Wharton Global Asset Management’s (WGAM) portfolio manager (your team’s teacher/advisor).
- 11 pages minimum; 14 pages maximum (not including works cited page)
- 12-point font; Times New Roman
- Double spaced
- 1-inch margins
- Each page must include a page number in the bottom left corner
- Submit in doc or pdf format, not exceeding 5MB
- All sources, images, and other media including use of generative AI must be cited using the American Psychological Association (APA) citation style. Please create a separate bibliography page attached to the end of your report titled ‘Works Cited’.
- Note: Please read the Wharton Global Youth AI Policy at the bottom of this page.
- Do NOT include external links to content outside your report. Our judges are instructed not to open any links within your report.
Use of Graphics
You are permitted to include graphics, charts, images, etc. in the Report Details portion of your Final Report. However, they should support your narrative, not distract from it. Too many charts, graphs, images, as well as excessive formatting, will dilute the impact of your message. Make sure your report is readable.
Wharton Global Youth AI Policy
The Wharton Global Youth Program and Wharton Academy embrace generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology and see it as an important tool for students. Generative AI describes algorithms, such as ChatGPT and other large language models, that can be used to create new content, including text, code, and images.
At the discretion of faculty, instructional teams and staff, Wharton Global Youth Program and Wharton Academy students may use generative AI tools. Please note, however, that the material generated by these tools may produce inaccurate, incomplete, or otherwise problematic content. While these tools, if used properly, can generate new ideas, using them can also stifle students’ independent thinking and creativity.
When students express themselves in the Wharton Global Youth Program and Wharton Academy, they must use their voice and words. Using somebody else’s work without crediting the source – including generative AI — is plagiarism. Guided by the policies of faculty, instructional teams, and staff, AI-generated work should be cited like any other reference material, including how and where students used AI-generated information.
While AI can be a helpful tool, students should be mindful of its limitations and ensure their final work reflects their ideas, words, and creativity.
As students navigate the emerging AI landscape, they can look to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania as a world leader in AI and a reliable source of AI insight and guidance.
For more details on academic honesty, please refer to Penn’s Academic Integrity statement.
EVALUATION CRITERIA
Your team’s final report will be evaluated on five criteria:
- Investment strategy: contains a clear and creative strategy thesis; demonstrates mid-term and long-term investment thinking; portfolio is invested in at least as many sectors as there are team members.
- Client knowledge and objectives: strategy is tailored uniquely to the client’s financial goals; would win him/her over as a client.
- Portfolio analysis: demonstrates clear understanding of new concepts and investment tools; uses both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
- Articulation of competition experience: demonstrates good teamwork and communication; team clearly explains decision-making process and what they learned from the competition.
- Creativity and presentation: compelling narrative and visually pleasing presentation of data; many creative elements; clearly presented with an authentic team voice.
A Few Things to Keep in Mind
- Excessive investing jargon doesn’t necessarily dazzle the judges. Your report should reflect your team’s voice.
- Don’t use precious space repeating known facts about your client and defining concepts. However, it is okay to demonstrate that you understand your client beyond the case study.
- Keep your reader engaged. Choose active language, illustrate with examples and make your report memorable.
- Teams that have spent quality time developing their strategies and building their portfolios should be eager to share their unique competition journey in the final report; teams are not allowed to use generative AI to write their reports, and that inauthenticity will be obvious.
In order for your team to be considered for the Semifinals, you must also have fulfilled all of the following requirements. Your team is only eligible to advance to the Semifinals—regardless of the quality of your final report—if all of the following are fulfilled:
- Fully executed your first trade on WInS by 4:00 PM ET on October 18, 2024.
- Submitted your official team roster via Reviewr by 5:00 PM ET on October 25, 2024.
- Submitted both the Midterm Report AND the Final Report on time. Teams that submit a Final Report but not a Midterm Report are not eligible for the Semifinals or for participation certificates.
- Adhered to our rules about what securities can and cannot be traded. Teams that include prohibited securities in their final report are not eligible for the Semifinals.
- Completed a final report that falls within the acceptable page range and includes all the required elements.
- Maintained the same team advisor throughout the competition (you may not change your advisor without written permission from the Wharton Investment Competition Team).
- Maintained the same roster of team members after October 25, 2024 (you may not change your team members after October 30, 2024 without written permission from the Wharton Investment Competition Team).
Teams WILL NOT receive individual feedback about Midterm Reports or Final Reports. We WILL NOT provide you with information about how the evaluators scored your team.
Each year, we receive many excellent final reports. If your team is not selected as a Semifinalist, this does not necessarily mean that you did something “wrong.” We are looking for teams that score exceptionally well on all five components of the criteria, and that embrace all aspects of the competition with passion and creativity, which is then reflected in various ways in their final reports.