Kent State Finance Student Places Top 5 in National Competition

KENT, Ohio - June 4, 2014 - PRLog -- A student from the College of Business Administration at Kent State University placed fifth in the Wall Street Journal Student Index Competition.

Andrew Macpherson, a senior finance major, competed against more than 7,500 students from universities around the country in the Wall Street Journal’s sponsored trading competition.

The competition is designed to provide students with an opportunity to manage a $100,000 virtual portfolio. During the month of April, the contest required students to trade at least 10 different stocks and securities. Macpherson completed 4,773 trades by the end of the competition and ended with a net worth of $502,064.93.

“Andrew is a very diligent and motivated student. He is a self-starter and entered this competition entirely of his own accord,” said David Dumpe, Ph.D., associate professor of finance for the College of Business Administration. “His performance in this competition comes as no surprise. It indicates that our best students can definitely compete in the national arena. I expect him to be very successful and to continue to reflect well on Kent's College of Business Administration.”

Because he placed in the Top 10 Nationally, Macpherson has the opportunity to interview with proprietary trading firms; some of the firms include Avatar Securities, the Chicago Trading Company, KCG Holdings, PEAK6 Investments, SMB Capital and Vortex Capital Group.

“This is a testament to Kent State’s College of Business, which has not only allowed me to learn the skills I need to succeed, but has also provided me with the opportunities to demonstrate my abilities to their fullest potential,” Macpherson said. “I hope to continue to represent Kent State successfully as I begin my career in finance.”