WHSDSC post survey responses

Fielded after Phase 1 submissions, before Phase 2 notification; date 2025-03-03.

Location of reponses (red = student, blue = advisor)

Recomend

Enjoy

Educational modules

Did you access the educational modules?

Yes No Yes %
72 10 87.8

(from Phase 1 submission 82.5% Yes)

I watched more than one educational module:
Yes No Yes %
61 8 88.4
I learned something new from the educational module(s)
Yes No Yes %
64 5 92.8
I watched the educational module(s) because I needed help coming up with answers
Yes No Yes %
44 25 63.8

To what degree were the educational modules helpful?

This competition taught me material and concepts I would not otherwise have learned in my high school classes.

True False True %
73 3 96.1

Webinar

Did you or someone from the team join the Webinar?
Yes No Yes %
38 44 46.3

Why did you not attend the webinar?

  • 35: Bad timing or bad scheduling.
  • 4 : Didn’t know about it.
  • 5 : Didn’t have any questions.

Time spend on project

How many TOTAL hours did you spend working on this project?

How many hours a week did you spend working on this project?

Advisor - total hours

Change in time spent 2024 to 2025

I had ample time to work on the task (%).
year Yes No
2025 77.6 22.4
2024 86.7 13.3

SurveyMonkey Apply

SMA Navigation

The SurveyMonkey Apply platform was easy to navigate.

SMA Clear

It was clear what tasks I needed to complete in SurveyMonkey Apply.

SMA Emails

How helpful did you find the email notifications?

Student Quotes:

Positive
  • Keep doing what you’re doing! I loved this competition a lot. Next time, a little more time would he nice though.
  • Very fun competition.
  • Nope, this was a super rewarding experience even if we do not advance, thank you!
  • I really liked this competition, because from it I was able to apply skills I had learned in machine learning in my class, and that is the true reason I would recommend to my classmates, and it really boosted my love for data science, which I want to continue pursuing in college.
  • I really loved the project as I’m highly considering a statistics education as my focus in college.
  • It was a fun experience as seniors!
  • It was a great opportunity to study outside of the limits we are taught at school.

Changes

  • I think knowing the things we need to submit will be helpful before actually entering the data in the website.
  • Very much workload in short period of time, I spent my time investigating so so many ways of predicting the results, watched, researched so much, and thought of so many pros and cons of each method.
  • All around great but there needs to be more enticement and ability to learn other than the modules.
  • Instead of just a surveymonkey form, incorporate report writing. A detailed report with visuals, explanations, equations, methodology, and etc would provide a holistic approach to the judging process.

What factors most affected your experience?

  • Doing the competition with friends!
  • Seeing our statistical analysis be a success.
  • The modules were awesome for us to learn about important basketball and sports based statistics.
  • It was challenging yet exciting.
  • the level felt kind of high for highschoolers.
  • The educational modules helped the competition feel less overwhelming for people new to datascience, and being able to work with other people and AI also made it more enjoyable.
  • I found it extremely fun and helpful to discover new things and having to solve problems using techniques that I haven’t seen or used before.
  • I really enjoyed tackling a problem where it was easy to see the real-world application. Oftentimes, data science competitions give you an abstract dataset with a goal and it’s difficult to see how one’s work pertains to the real-world.
  • Being able to work with friends and being faced with an actual extended application question is super interesting.
  • Loved the challange and felt the competition prompt was very compelling!
  • The competition prompt is very interesting and complex, the students and faculty running the competition have been immensely helpful, and I enjoy working with my teammates and advisor.
  • It is better if you can extend the time to finish the work

Advisor Quotes:

Positive:

  • Thank you so much for providing the challenging opportunities!”
  • Students loved this opportunity! It was an easy and straightforward process for all of us too!”
  • Thanks for another great competition!”
  • There is no doubt that in future I would definitely encourage all my students to take part in the competitions conducted by Wharton.”
  • Overall, the task was highly rewarding and provided a unique experience for each team member.”

Negative.

  • It was disappointing for this team to not submit. I forwarded emails to the captain who was probably a poor choice the students made. The team had not made progress on the task which was also disappointing, but that is not your issue.

Changes:

  • More set up pre-event time to get into the modules. HS students have pretty packed schedules so finding pockets of time to be with club members were tough. Even an open zoom at beginning to run through - AutoOwners sim has video series, so students have intel in which to return to during sim.

What factors most effected your experience:

  • I don’t have much knowledge in Data Science, so I feel more like an observer than an advisor.
  • The game is set up so my students can work independently on it. This is really helpful because I don’t get to see this club that much and I am teaching a full load right now.”
  • The students were doing everything by themselves.
  • My students are very competitive, and enjoyed this process. They did not need my help, they are very independent thinkers.
  • The students were 99.9% self-directed. I didn’t have to hold their hands.
  • New competition for me. Interesting for students and it’s new knowledge for students. Students work without teacher.
  • The students have got a very good experience in the analytical skills and logical reasoning on different types of data. They are also exposed to various statistical tools and techniques. Taking part in this competition has really enriched their knowledge on various aspects.