Interested in The Wharton Global High School Investment Competition, or already taking part with your school team? A useful first step is to understand how the competition works, what your team must do independently and where to find reliable information.
This guide introduces the event and suggests general habits for learning, organising research and working together. Registered teams should use their official competition materials for the current case, trading requirements and submission instructions.
Looking for competition information or public learning resources? Contact Hanlin and send WHARTON START. Tell us whether you are already registered or exploring a future season, and which information you are looking for.
1. Understand the competition's purpose
The official Wharton Global Youth competition overview describes a learning experience in which student teams develop a long-term investment strategy for a client case. Teams implement their ideas in the Wharton Investment Simulator (WInS), using virtual cash.
The official FAQs explain that winners are selected for the strength and explanation of their strategies and competition experiences, rather than percentage portfolio growth. A high simulator ranking alone does not establish a strong submission.
As you learn, distinguish a result from an explanation. A simulated holding can increase in value while your original reasoning remains weak. Equally, an unexpected outcome can reveal an assumption worth investigating. Write down what you believed, what evidence supported it and what you later learned.
2. Check team eligibility and responsibilities
The current General Rules & Roles require four to six students on a team. School-based teams and their teacher advisor must come from the same high school and, where relevant, the same campus. The student leader must be at least 16 when the competition starts. Registration is the advisor's responsibility.
Read the complete eligibility rules, including the separate provisions for homeschooled students. Ask the organisers about any unusual situation before assuming your team qualifies.
For a future team, discuss practical commitments early. Can members attend regular meetings? Who will maintain the calendar? How will everyone understand the work, rather than depending on one person to explain it? A shared checklist and clear meeting notes can make collaboration easier.
3. Keep preparation and competition work within the rules
The official rules prohibit paid advisors, education consultants and other agents, as well as non-Wharton extracurricular courses claiming to teach the competition. Advisors provide educational support; students must make their own decisions and produce their own work.
The same rules permit AI for brainstorming, but prohibit presenting AI-generated work as your own and require citation of included AI material. Consult Wharton directly if you are uncertain whether a form of assistance is permitted.
This public guide and its contact link are for competition information and public resource enquiries. They do not offer paid competition advising, strategy creation or report writing. Keep your team's case analysis, decisions and submissions independent.
4. Learn to separate facts, assumptions and conclusions
When reading a business article or company document, practise identifying three different kinds of statement:
- A fact: Information that can be checked against a source, with its date and context.
- An assumption: Something you treat as possible or likely, but have not established.
- A conclusion: Your interpretation of the evidence, including its limits.
For example, a historical revenue figure does not establish what next year's revenue will be. A forecast should remain visibly separate from a reported result. Keep source links and publication dates in your study notes so you can revisit the evidence.
Wharton's business glossary is a starting point for unfamiliar terms. Build a small personal vocabulary list and explain each term in your own words before trying to use it in a longer discussion.
5. Try a general numeracy exercise
Does a 20% rise reverse a 20% fall?
Imagine a hypothetical index starting at 100. A 20% fall takes it to 80. A subsequent 20% rise takes it to 80 × 1.20 = 96, not 100.
To return from 80 to 100, it must gain 20 on a base of 80: 20 / 80 = 25%.
This original educational example illustrates percentage changes. It is not an official competition question, a trading recommendation or a strategy for the current client case.
The lesson is to check the base of a percentage. Two changes with equal percentages can have different numerical effects because the starting values differ. When reviewing calculations, show intermediate steps so another person can reproduce the result.
6. Organise learning and documentation throughout the season
The official overview lists the team roster, Trading Notes Analysis, Investment Policy Statement and Comprehensive Final Report among required deliverables. School documentation and trading requirements also apply. Registered teams receive detailed instructions through SurveyMonkey Apply.
Use those instructions to build your team's own calendar. Record the deadline, time zone, submission location and responsible person for each task. Check the platform for updates rather than relying only on a blog summary.
A short meeting record can capture what was discussed, which questions remain open and what each student will investigate next. Keep dated working notes so the team can accurately describe its actual experience later. If an idea changes, preserve the earlier reasoning and explain the change honestly.
Before sharing any written work, check the sources, units and calculations. Ask whether each teammate can explain the main claims. Clear language makes it easier to identify a gap in understanding than a paragraph filled with unfamiliar terminology.
7. Use the correct season's information
As of October 2026, registration for the 2026-2027 competition is closed. The official overview states that registration ended on September 11, 2026. Already registered teams should follow their current platform instructions; prospective participants can explore the event and watch for future official announcements.
Older reports and past winners can be interesting reading, but a previous year's schedule or deliverables may differ. Label your notes with the season and check the official sources before making plans. Our competition FAQ page provides another starting point for exploring questions.
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References: Wharton Global Youth's competition overview, General Rules & Roles, FAQs and glossary linked above. Information checked in October 2026. Eligibility and competition decisions rest with the official organisers.
