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Wall Street 101 Schedule

The skills taught in Wall Street 101 will provide a lifetime of value, regardless of your intended college major or career. Bentley University has been preparing students with these valuable life skills in the Wall Street 101 program for over a decade. Our program is distinguished from others in its level of academic rigor and hands-on experience. Each course is nearly equivalent to a college-level course and provides students with access to industry software and data sets, including Bloomberg, FactSet, Morningstar Direct, and CapIQ, to perform analysis and conduct simulated investments. The courses trading exercises, group assignments, guest lectures, and group presentations to develop capital markets insights. For summer 2023, we plan to offer the following courses (all times are Eastern Daylight Time), and applications for all courses open on Monday, January 16, 2023. 

2023 Program Offerings*

Session Format Start Date End Date Macroeconomics & Financial Markets Stock Market & Investment Research Investment Strategies
A Online  Monday, June 12 Friday, June 16 X X n/a
B Residential & Commuter Sunday, June 18 Friday, June 23 X X n/a
C Residential & Commuter Sunday, June 25 Friday, June 30

X

X X
D Residential & Commuter Sunday, July 2 Friday, July 7 n/a X  X
E Residential & Commuter Sunday, July 9 Friday, July 14                        X X
F Online Monday, July 17 Friday, July 21 X X n/a 

*Students can take only one course per session. See course sequencing below for some suggestions.  For in-person sessions (B, C, D, and E), check-in begins at 3:00 pm (EDT), on June 18, June 25, July 2 and July 9, respectively. Please check if the course you are interested in has seats available before registering.  

 

Formats

The Summer 2023 program will offer courses in three different formats: online, commuter, and residential. The curriculum for each course is the same across all formats. All session times are Eastern Daylight Time. 

Online

Online students participate in live instruction through the Zoom platform from wherever they are.  Students are assigned to team projects and must coordinate with their team members to complete assignments outside of class times. Parents and guardians are invited to watch the final presentations (online) on the final day of the course week.  All times are Eastern Daylight Time (EDT).

Commuter

Sessions B, C, D, and E are conducted on the beautiful Bentley campus in Waltham, Massachusetts. Commuter students work together with residential students Monday through Friday in Bentley classrooms and our state-of-the-art Trading Room from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, then engage in group work and extra-curricular programming.  Parents and guardians are invited to join, online or in person, the final presentations and awards ceremony  on Friday.

 

Residential

Residential students arrive throughout the day on Sunday and get to know the campus as well as their residential community. They follow the same program schedule as commuter students from 8:30am to 5:30pm Monday through Friday with additional social activities in the late evening hours.  For students traveling by plane, Bentley provides transportation between Boston Logan airport and campus.

 

Course Sequencing

Which course should you take first? While the three courses are independent, they are related.  Also note that you can take only one course per session.  Please use the following suggested course sequencing guidelines:

  • If you are unfamiliar with the capital markets or just starting, take either or both of the following courses in any sequence:
    • Macroeconomics & Financial Markets
    • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • If you have some familiarity with the capital markets and want to gain a more in-depth background, take both of the following courses in sequence:
    • Stock Market and Investment Research
    • Investment Strategies
  • If you plan to enroll in all three courses, the proper sequence is:
    • Macroeconomics & Financial Markets
    • Stock Market and Investment Research
    • Investment Strategies.

Taking three courses should give you an in-depth introduction to the exciting world of investing. As an aside, the course Investment Strategies covers portfolio diversification using various asset classes such as stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.   The course offers an introduction to asset allocation, spreading investment funds across multiple asset classes to manage risk.  The guiding principle is 'never put all your eggs in the same basket.'  Diversify.  

Stock Market and Investment Research (6 Sections)

This course teaches you what a financial analyst at a Wall Street firm does. You will learn about financial statement analysis, forecasting, risk analysis, and analyst recommendations using industry-standard valuation models. You will also learn how to value firms using the latest industry-standard indicators of firm performance on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues. Finally, you will learn how to prepare industry-standard reports, present your stock pitch to clients or investment managers, and interact with financial executives.  

two students work together in the trading room
three students sit in trading room classroom working on computers

Macroeconomics and Financial Markets (5 Sections)

This is an overview course on the link between the economy and the global financial markets, particularly how government monetary and fiscal policies and the state of the economy impact stock, bond, currency, and alternative assets.  As major policy decisions or economic, political, social, financial, and corporate news are announced, investors, traders, portfolio managers, and hedge funds, for example, make changes in their trading and investment decisions.  Securities prices react. Overall, students will learn how the financial markets respond to current events and headlines about, for example, healthcare, inflation, jobs, taxes, interest rates, industrial performance, politics, war, terrorism, and natural disasters.  

Investment Strategies (3 Sections)

In today's highly volatile market, it is important to spread your investment across multiple asset classes such as stocks, bonds, real estate, currencies, and commodities.  Determining how much of your investment fund should be allocated to these assets is the most crucial aspect of your investment strategy.  This course teaches you the principles of testing investment strategies for managing a portfolio.  While there are no prerequisites for this course, you will be introduced to fundamental valuation models of these asset classes.  We will teach you how investors allocate funds among different assets to limit their risk.  The objective is to learn about investing in a diversified portfolio.  Using excel and industry-standard valuation platforms, you will test investment strategies, conduct portfolio optimization exercises, evaluate and manage risk, and analyze performance.      

Student in trading room looking at a computer screen with bloomberg terminal