Wharton Global High School Investment Competition
Manage a portfolio for a client, then defend the strategy to Wharton judges.
What it is
The Wharton Global High School Investment Competition puts your team in the seat of an investment advisor. You get a simulated $100,000 account and a client with actual goals and constraints, and you manage the portfolio as a team across a fixed trading period.
The scoring is the part most teams misread. Return alone does not win it. Judges look for a strategy that fits the client you were given, evidence that you researched what you bought, and a written report and presentation that hold together under questioning. A team that lands a modest return for the right reasons beats a team that got lucky on one position.
Top teams advance out of regional rounds to the Global Finale, judged at Wharton.
The format, at a glance.
- Team
- A student team with an adult advisor
- Account
- A simulated $100,000 portfolio
- Client
- Assigned, with stated goals and constraints
- Judged on
- Strategy fit, research quality, and the written report, not raw return
- Season
- Registration and trading in the fall, finals in the spring
How MCBA prepares you
Every member gets the prep below inside the Competition Academy, built around this competition rather than adapted from a generic business course.
MCBA's own Portfolio Simulator
Place orders, hold positions, and watch fills and profit and loss move against real market history. By the time the competition account opens, the mechanics are boring, which is exactly what you want.
Research training in the Data Center
Reading filings, charts, and datasets like an analyst, so the holdings in your report have a reason behind them that survives a follow-up question.
The valuation and portfolio topics
Stock valuation, fundamental analysis, earnings and margins, moats and industry structure, diversification, portfolio theory, funds, and bonds. The vocabulary the judges will use, learned before they use it.
Report and pitch review
Mentors read the investment thesis and the deck before submission, and chapters run practice Q&A. The Startup Challenge at the Summit trains the identical skill: defending a recommendation live.
Where it sits in the season. Registration and the trading period run in the fall, with finals in the spring. See the full season timeline.
Also worth a look
Prep for Wharton starts the day you join
Members get the study guides, practice exams, flashcards, and mock rounds for every competition on this list, plus a chapter to compete with.