Q1 What is the title of the finance student competition you may consider competing? Hint: You may Google search something like “student competitions in finance”.
The title of the student finance competition that I may consider competing in is “National Investment Banking Competition”
Q2 Describe the eligibility requirements, if any (e.g., undergraduate college student).
Eligibilty requirements for this competition include being an undergarduate student, graduate student or MBA student.
Q3 What are the competition criteria?
The criteria of the National Investment Banking competition includes two rounds the first round and a final round. In the first round teams will work work with trading comparables,Precedent transactions and LBOs templates. They will then develop pitchbook and valuation models. In the final round teams who are selected to move on will work with pre-built models, data sets and a transaction memo for strategic analysis. They will have an 8 hour time frame to develop a boardroom pitch. Finally, they will present to a managing director panel.
Q4 What is the deadline for the submission?
The final deadline for submission and registration is December 10th but the dealine for Early Bird submission is November 25th.
Q5 Why are you interested in this competition?
I am interested in this competition because it is one of the top undergraduate case competitions for aspiring investment bankers and I think I could learn a great deal from competing in it. Also, the competition offers a $10,000 prize which would be a great benefit for me.
Q6 What would be a possible project you may turn in for the competition? Describe it in at least 100 words.
There are various types of projects that could be turned in for this particular competition. In the first round when working from an analyst or associate perspective I would create a project that deals with trading comparables and precedent transactions by evaluating performance. I would then create both a pitchbook and a valuation model to present to the judges as if I was an analyst. If I were to be selected for the final round I would create a project from a directors perspective. I would use pre built models and data sets to conduct a strategic analysis. I would then use my strongest data points to build a boardroom pitch which I would then present to the managing director panel.
Q7 List things that you learned in financial modeling course that could be helpful for your project in Q6. Describe it in at least 100 words.
There are so many different skills that I have developed and things I have learned in financial modeling that would help me to build my project for this competition. First of all, I have learned how to evaluate the performance of stocks which would be useful in conducting successful training. Also, I am able to compare stock performance through coding techniques we have learned which would allow me to make educated choices when conducting trading plans. Finally, I can interpret why stocks are performing in a certain way and whether or not there is an outside force that is impacting their performance. Being able to interpret performance would make my presentation much easier as I would be able to explain the “what?” “how?” and “why?” of my plan.
Q8 List things that you learned in other finance courses at PSU that could be helpful for your project in Q6. Describe it in at least 100 words.
Another finance course that I took at PSU was personal financial planning where I learned to use an amortization calculator to determine how money can grow with different interest rates and how the way it is compounded can impact long term numbers. This would help me to provide judges with accurate depictions of how my plan will perform in the long run. I also took Business Statistics where I learned how to evaluate stats by using code to create charts which make things easier to compare. These skills would help me to show judges a chart that makes it easy to see differences and the advantages of my plan. Also, my interpretation of statistics would be much more useful and accurate due to these skills.
Q9 Check the finance blog below and see if you see any post that may be helpful for your project in Q6. Discuss how it can be helpful in at least 100 words. Hint: The author of the blog writes articles on financial analysis using R. https://rviews.rstudio.com/categories/reproducible-finance-with-r/
One post I read on the finance blog that I believe could be helpful when conducting my project was title “Momentum Investing with R”. In the post the author explains an investment strategy called momentum. The strategy centers around buying high and then selling higher on stocks that have been performing well and are likely to continue to do so. The process starts by looking into the past and determining if an asset has reached a certain benchmark to determine whether or not it is worth buying. This strategy would be helpful to me in completing my project because it provides me with an additional investment strategy to incorporate into my presentation. As a result, I would present to the judges a diverse investment strategy and projections of growth.
Q10 List things that you think could be helpful but not taught/offered at PSU finance courses. Discuss how it can be helpful in at least 100 words.
PSU offers many finance courses which teach lessons that would be extremely helpful in completing my project for the competition however, there are a few things that arent offered that I wish were. First of all, I think that a course in business valuation modeling would be helpful not only for the competition but in many student’s futures. Learning about business valuation modeling would help us to understand hwo to determine the value of a business and how to analyze its current financial position. Next, I think it would be helpful if PSU offered a course centered around taxation, though I know they do offer a tax acoounting course, I think havign a course centered around taxation would help student to fully undertsand a process they will have to undergo each year. Also, it would help them to fie their taxes in the most efficient manor allowing them to maximize their money. In addition, learning more about taxtaion would help me to build a plan for my competition by being able to determine an accurate budget based on available funds without taking careless losses due to improper filing tendencies.