November 15, 2004
Wharton, Harvard Earn Top Honors in National Real Estate Challenge

AUSTIN, Texas—A team of MBA students from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania took first place in the third annual National Real Estate Challenge at The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.

For their victory, the Wharton students won $5,000. Students from Harvard University claimed second place, winning $2000. A team from Stanford University won third place and $1,000.

The National Real Estate Challenge is one of the largest real estate competitions in the country. This year’s contest featured teams from a dozen top business schools and universities, including Columbia University, Northwestern University, the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of California at Berkeley and The University of Texas at Austin.

Goldman Sachs & Company presented this year’s case, which called on students to evaluate an investment opportunity on behalf of a global real estate opportunity fund. Students assessed the investment process, post-investment operations and exit strategies.

In addition to Goldman Sachs, corporate sponsors included The Beck Group, Banc of America Securities, and Prudential Mortgage Capital Company.

The McCombs School’s Real Estate Finance and Investment Center hosted the challenge. The center is one of the first in the world to specialize in the convergence of real estate and finance.

More information on the challenge can be found at http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/students/gres/Challenge/REChallenge.asp.

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For information on specific programs at the McCombs School, consult our contacts page. For media information, contact the Communications Director by phone at 512-471-3314 or by email at CommunicationsDirector@mccombs.utexas.edu.