Deadline: September 12, 2025
Description of the Opportunity
Applications are now open for the Wharton Global High School Investment Competition 2025. The Wharton Global High School Investment Competition is a free, experiential investment challenge for high school students (9th to 12th grade) and teachers. Students work in teams of four to six, guided by a teacher as their advisor, and have access to an online stock market simulator. Together, they learn about strategy-building, teamwork, communication, risk, diversification, company and industry analysis, and many other aspects of investing.
Teams examine a short case study featuring a potential client (a real Wharton graduate working in business) and are tasked with collaborating to meet that client’s long-term investment goals as they try to win his or her business. Equipped with the Wharton Investment Simulator (WInS), which allows them to buy and sell stocks and ETFs, over the course of 10 weeks students develop an investment strategy, analyze industries and companies, and build a portfolio using $250,000 in virtual cash.
Winners are selected on the strength and articulation of their team strategies, not on the growth of their portfolios, which is a key differentiator between this investment challenge and others. During the competition each team submits two deliverables. Final reports are reviewed by a team of judges, who select 50 semifinalist teams. Those teams are invited to present their strategies to a panel of expert judges at the virtual Semifinals. The top 10 teams from the Semifinals move on to the Global Finale at Wharton in Philadelphia.
Benefits
Why Join the Competition?
- It’s run by the Wharton School, a world leader in business education
- All students on teams that submit and meet the minimum requirements for the competition deliverables will receive participation badges in February 2025
- All semifinalists and global finalists will also receive special certificates recognizing their achievements
- Each student member of the global champion team will receive a complimentary spot in our online summer program, Future of the Business World, Essentials of Leadership, Moneyball Academy: Training Camp FLEX or Moneyball Academy: Training Camp
- Each student member from all 10 global finalist teams will have the course fee waived for our online course, Understanding Your Money
- You get to explore the exciting world of securities and strategies
- You learn about risk, diversification, company and industry analysis and more investing basics
- You develop teamwork, leadership and communication skills
- You enhance your college and scholarship applications by building your résumé
- You have a chance to compete against teams from around the world
- You learn finance skills that will last a lifetime
- It’s free and fun!
Eligibility
Who is eligible to participate?
- High school students (see Rules) around the world who are interested in business and finance and want to improve their knowledge and skills.
- Students don’t need any experience with the stock market to participate; however, they must have an advisor (see Rules) to help them navigate the recommended articles, lesson plans and learning outcomes associated with the competition so they can achieve the ultimate goal with this game, which is learning the nuances of investing.
- Advisors may also simply serve as sounding boards and motivators, depending on how closely they are involved with the competition.
- Advisors are responsible for registering their team(s). Students are NOT permitted to register for the competition on their own behalf or on behalf of their team. If this rule is violated the team will not be permitted to compete.
- Classes of students can compete (in different teams of 4-6), individual investment clubs, home-schooled students, as well as random groups of students (from the same school) who like a challenge and want to learn.
- Student teams must be comprised of members from the same high school and be current high school students. If the high school has various branches, teams must be comprised of students and an advisor from the same branch.
- “High school” is typically secondary-level (no younger than 14, no older than 18 at the start of the competition), pre-university education, as defined by country (e.g., generally 9th – 12th grade in the United States).
- Home-schooled students or privately tutored students working towards a G.E.D. (high school diploma) or non-U.S. equivalent may also compete.
- A written request to form a team of home-schooled students must be submitted to wghs-invcomp@wharton.upenn.edu and approved by the Investment Competition team prior to registering.
- If a team of home-schooled students advances to the Semifinals, each student will be required to provide one of the following items: a) Dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool from the parent to the state or county in which the student resides; b) Copy of the current membership ID to a homeschool association; or c) Dated proof of purchase of curriculum for the current academic school year.
- Additionally, home-schooled students are permitted to join a school-based team as long as the student lives in in the school district of the team they are joining. Should the team advance to the Semifinals, the home-schooled student will be required to provide one of the following items: a) Dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool from the parent to the state or county in which the student resides; b) Copy of the current membership ID to a homeschool association; or c) Dated proof of purchase of curriculum for the current academic school year.
- Participants must not have earned a high school/secondary school diploma before the competition begins on September 29, 2025.
- A child of faculty or staff of the University of Pennsylvania is eligible to participate, as long as his or her parent or guardian is not part of the competition judging committee.
For more information, please visit Wharton Global High School Investment Competition
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