Strong Showing by Team Schulich at World’s Largest Undergraduate Case Competition
A team of 3rd and 4th year Schulich undergraduate students placed 2nd overall within their division at the 2021 John Molson International Undergraduate Case Competition.
The annual event – the largest undergraduate case competition in the world – featured 112 participants from 28 business schools in 13 countries. This year, for the first time ever, the competition took place entirely online. Case competition participants had to present strategic solutions to real-world business challenges in 20-minute video recordings that were shown to a panel of judges with no opportunities for questions and answers or clarifications.
The Schulich team, which competed in one of the toughest divisions within the tournament, consisted of Nour Nassif, Yusuf Khan, Monica Xie and Rachel Aarons.
The team had to battle back from a last-placed finish in the 2nd round – one that featured numerous technical difficulties, including power outages, Zoom disconnects as well as PowerPoint and video upload problems.
“Although the team didn’t make it to finals, they beat out two global case competition powerhouses in the process – the University of California – Berkeley and Queen’s University,” said team coach Mona E. Afrouz, a Schulich marketing and management instructor and Case Competition Program Director. “I’ve never worked with a more determined team who exhibited everything you would expect of a professional.”