Wharton High School Data Science Competition:
Basketball Tournament Predictions

Rules

• 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 data-comp@wharton.upenn.edu and approved by the Wharton High School Data Science Competition staff 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:
  • Dated copy of a letter of intent to homeschool from the parent to the state or county in which the student resides,
  • Copy of the current membership ID to a homeschool association; Or, 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 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 items listed in the previous paragraph.
• Participants who have earned a high school/secondary school diploma before the competition begins on February 3, 2025, will be disqualified.
• Children of University of Pennsylvania faculty or staff are eligible to participate as long as their parent or guardian is not part of the competition judging committee.
• Any plagiarism or other form of cheating is considered a violation of the Wharton High School Data Science Competition policies. See Integrity and Code of Conduct policies below.

• Teams are required to have one advisor, who must be a teacher/educator at the high school of their students’ team.
• Advisors can oversee more than one student team, but students cannot compete on more than one team. If a student appears on multiple teams from the same school, all teams will be subject to disqualification.
• Advisors are responsible for registering their team. 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 might not be permitted to compete.
• The use of paid advisors, education consultants, or other agents is prohibited. Similarly, no participant or team may enroll in any non-Wharton, extracurricular “course” (online or in-person) claiming to “teach” the Data Science Competition. Teams suspected by the Wharton School of using paid advisors, education consultants, extracurricular coursework, or other agents will be disqualified from the competition. The Wharton School reserves the right to engage its employees and third-party private investigatory firms and/or forensic analysts to ensure compliance with the foregoing restriction, and to ensure that all teams are competing fairly.
• Teams are not permitted to change their advisor. If a team needs to change their advisor due to extenuating circumstances, a written request must first be submitted to and approved by the Data Science Competition team (data-comp@wharton.upenn.edu). Teams that attempt to change their advisor without first submitting a written request will be eliminated from the competition.
• More information about the role of the advisor is available here.

• Each team must maintain a minimum of three team members and a maximum of five members from the very start of the competition. Students are not permitted to participate on more than one team. 
• If the team’s application (submitted by the advisor) is approved for competition, the advisor will be prompted to report each student team member’s name, school email address, and graduation year, as well as a name for the team. Teams should choose their own names, and have fun with it. Please use good judgment. Team names that use offensive or vulgar language, as determined by the Wharton School in its sole discretion, may be automatically disqualified. The Wharton School reserves the right to contact teams to mandate changes in team names that it deems inappropriate. It is important to fill this form out as early as possible, and no later than February 3 to avoid any competition delays.
• Each team must designate one student as the Team Leader. This student must be at least 16 years old in order to comply with SurveyMonkey Apply policy. If approved for competition, the advisor must add this student as a Collaborator to the team’s application before February 3. This student will be responsible for submitting all work completed by the students for Phase 1 and the following tasks, if advanced.
• Teams can add or remove members until March 3, when the Phase 1 task is due, but every team must maintain at least 3 student team members and cannot exceed 5. 

Phase 1

• Each team must submit a complete set of predictions and answers during Phase 1 of the competition to be considered for the Semifinals. The top 25 teams selected based on the strength of their Phase 1 reports will be selected as semifinalists.
• Along with Phase 1 submission, teams will need to include documentation from their high school (on official school letterhead) indicating they have permission to compete and that all students and the advisor are affiliated with the school.

Phase 2 or Semifinals

• The 25 Semifinalists will be tasked with creating and submitting a slide deck with a description of the team’s findings and approach. A template will be provided.

Phase 3 or Finals

• Five teams will be selected as Finalists and will be asked to present the team’s slide deck submitted during the Semifinals to a panel of judges. No changes to the slide deck are permitted after Phase 2.
• Please note that the Finals are entirely virtual and will be hosted via Zoom. All teams are responsible for connecting in real-time to their Finals presentation, using their own technology.

• All students on teams that submit and meet the minimum requirements of both deliverables will receive feedback following Phase 1 and participation certificates in April 2025. All semifinalists and finalists will also receive special certificates recognizing their achievements.
• Each member of the 1st-place team will receive a 1st-place trophy, an opportunity to attend the Moneyball Academy: Training Camp, Moneyball Academy: Training Camp FLEX online program (Summer) or enrollment in a Global Youth Program Online Course: Future of the Business World, Essentials of Leadership free of charge, plus 1st-place certificates, and swag.
• Each member of the 2nd-place team will receive a 2nd-place trophy, virtual access to a Moneyball Academy guest speaker session, certificates, and swag.
• Each member of the 3rd-place team will receive a 3rd-place trophy, certificates, and swag.
• All top-5 teams and their teacher-advisors are provided certificates.
• No prize substitutions are permitted except at the sole discretion of the Wharton AI and Analytics Initiative and Wharton Global Youth Program, in which case a prize (or portion of the prize) of equal or greater value may be awarded. Prize(s) are not redeemable for cash. Contest and prizes void where prohibited.

Ethics are an essential aspect of data management. We expect you to read these rules and apply them to all you do throughout the competition.

All Wharton High School Data Science Competition team members are held to the highest personal ethical standards. The decisions you make from the moment you register for the competition should be honest and truthful to the best of your ability. This starts with your number of team members (you must always have at least three active members to compete) and ends with how you articulate your winning team choices in your final presentations — and includes everything in between. We trust that you will not fabricate analyses, compensate advisors, education consultants, or other agents, enroll in non-Wharton extracurricular courses that claim to “teach” the competition, or plagiarize. If at any point you are unsure about a decision or situation, please reach out to the Wharton High School Data Science Competition team for clarification.

Students must abide by the University of Pennsylvania’s Code of Academic Integrity, which states a student’s work must be their own, and not be plagiarized from any other source, including advisors or “unofficial” advisors. Plagiarism includes, but is not limited to, the use of another’s words or ideas as if they are one’s own. Plagiarism and any kind of academic cheating are grounds for dismissal from the competition. If at any point you are unsure about a decision or situation, please reach out to the Wharton High School Data Science Competition team for clarification.

Each team is required to properly cite any sources used and acknowledge ownership of all images and other media that it submits as part of a deliverable or a presentation that it (or a team member) does not own or did not solely develop. While the use of generative AI is permitted, know that mistakes are possible should you choose to incorporate AI and you will still be expected to explain the logic and reasoning behind your approach. Submitted materials that violate any laws or intellectual property restrictions, are offensive, incite violence, or are otherwise deemed inappropriate for viewing by the public (for purposes of this competition) will not be accepted. Regardless of whether a team is selected as a finalist, each team (and/or the students on such team) retains ownership of their own work.

The Wharton School reserves the right to engage its employees and third-party private investigatory firms and/or forensic analysts to ensure compliance with the foregoing restrictions, and to ensure that all teams are competing fairly.

This Wharton High School Data Science Competition Code of Conduct extends to how students and advisors treat teammates, supervisors, and the competition organizers. We expect teams to behave politely and respectfully through virtual, email, and social media interactions, and to communicate any concerns or grievances with a courteous tone and language. The Wharton School will not tolerate negative, threatening, or offensive behavior of any kind, and will sanction or disqualify teams for any such behavior at its sole discretion.

The University of Pennsylvania, the policies of which govern the competition, prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, creed, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status, or any other legally protected class.