A team of three Cal Poly Pomona Singelyn Graduate School of Business (SGSB) students, accompanied by faculty mentor Dr. Preeti Wadhwa traveled to UC Davis and won a Jeopardy-style business quiz competition on business news, claiming more than $4,000 in prize money.
The Financial Times Biz Quiz 2023, hosted by UC Davis, was an invite-only event held Nov. 17-18 where 12 teams from graduate business programs across the United States were tested on their knowledge of business news covered over a span of 6 weeks with an average of 40 articles a day.
“It was an incredible experience,” Bree Nguyen, Master's of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) graduate student said. “The exercise gave me an incredible breadth of knowledge on finance, foreign policy, and trade and climate issues.”
Nguyen was joined on the team by MSBA classmate Adib Golestan, and MBA student Neelan Ganesan. The three will equally split the $3,000 prize purse. Golestan also won an extra $750 with a second-place finish in the individual competition and Nguyen’s third place finish earned her an additional $500.
This was the first time the SGSB participated in the competition. The field was primarily UC colleges like UC Irvine, UC Riverside, and UC San Diego, with Rice University representing the Ivy League and USC also sending a team to Davis.
To prepare for the event, the team used spreadsheets to track breaking news, connect related articles and organize the sheer volume of clips amassed in a two-month news cycle. The training regimen centered around late-night meetings featuring countless rounds of mock quizzes.
“We got into the game late and as complete underdogs,” Wadhwa, faculty coach and Professor of Management and Leadership said. “My mantra for students has always been getting out of their comfort zone, get more engaged on campus beyond their classrooms and say, ‘yes’ to opportunities that come their way. These students did exactly that.”
Outside of the competition, there were several networking opportunities for the students including an evening reception followed by a dinner. Students were able to interact with Financial Times leaders including Peter Spiegel, its U.S. Managing Editor and Andrew Jack, the publication's Global Education Editor. The team also has an opportunity to participate in an interactive and very informative interview of CalPERS CEO, Marcia Frost.
“It was a great blend of teamwork and learning - a genuinely exceptional experience,” Golestan said.
“Taking a chance on this experience was worth it; it led to meeting great teammates and schools, as well as challenged us to learn more about the world than we previously knew,” Ganesan added.