OVERVIEW, RULES, & GUIDELINES

Failure to comply with these guidelines may result in penalties or disqualification from this and/or future competitions.

 

CASE

• The Mulroy Real Estate Challenge at Villanova University will be a real estate development case competition. The case will center on financial analysis and project feasibility, with minor design features. The purpose of the competition is to provide undergraduate business students with the opportunity to showcase their talents and interact with both industry leaders and student peers. 

• Once distributed on Monday, February 3rd, questions regarding the specifics of the case should be submitted by email to Dr. Ben Scheick (benjamin.scheick@villanova.edu) and a copy to Center Director, Jessica Taylor (jessica.taylor@villanova.edu). If the question is deemed critical, the question and the answer will be distributed to all teams. All questions must be submitted by 5:00 PM (EST) on Thursday, February 5th for consideration.  

TIMING

• The case will be distributed at NOON (EST) on Monday, February 3rd to each fully registered team via email and Dropbox link.  Submissions will be due by 9:00 AM (EST) on Monday, February 10th.

• The online submissions will be judged remotely.  The top 16 teams selected from among these submissions will be invited to semi-finals and finals in Philadelphia.  The first round decisions will be announced Friday, February 21st. 

• Semi-finals and finals for the Mulroy Real Estate Challenge will be held on Friday, April 4th, 2025 at the Union League of Philaldelphia. 

 

COMPETITION FORMAT

• Business dress is required.

• There will be three (3) competition rounds.  

    

Preliminary Round

- Round 1 will be remote. Each team will submit a PowerPoint presentation (20-slide maximum) to be judged remotely. Teams must also submit an Executive Summary (single sheet maximum, double sided) and also have the option to submit an expanded version of their PowerPoint presentation (no slide limit) with appendices included to be utilized for Rounds 2 and 3, which will only be seen by judges, if selected to advance. 

- NOTE: The full presentation and appendices will NOT be shared with judges during Round 1 of the competition. Monday, February 10th is the final date to submit both the condensed and extended versions of teams’ presentations. There is no other opportunity past this date to submit files. Both versions of the PowerPoint presentation and the Executive Summary will be due via Dropbox on Monday, February 10th by 9 AM (EST). Late submissions will not be accepted. 

- No changes are permitted to a team’s slides or executive summary beyond the submission deadline. Only one submission is allowed per team.  

- Judges will select the 16 semi-finalist teams by evaluating the preliminary presentations.  Determinations will be announced on Friday, February 21st. 

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Semi-finals and Finals
- Semi-finalist teams announced on February 21st.  will be invited to present in-person in Center City Philadelphia on Friday, April 4th. 

- As in past years there will be a semi-final round and a final round. Team presentations in each round must be no longer than 20 minutes.  Each team member is required to have a speaking role. A time‐keeper will ensure that presentations do not exceed 20 minutes. Each presentation will be followed by 10 minutes of judges’ questions. If the presentation is less than 20 minutes the judges’ questions can fill the remainder of the 30 minute total time allowed for each presentation. 

- Semi-final round presentation times, presentation order, and breakout room assignments will be randomly assigned by draw. The first presentation will begin at 9:00 AM (EST).

- Only the presenting students, timekeepers and the judges will be present in the breakout room for semi-final presentations. The judges will determine the top teams from each semi-final room and those teams will present in the final round in an open forum with all participants (teams, advisors, judges and sponsors) present.

- Final round presentation times and presentation order will be randomly assigned by draw.  The first presentation of finals will begin at 1:15 PM (EST).

- Minimum cash awards of $5000, $3000, and $2000 will be distributed to the first, second, and third place teams respectively. The awards will be distributed through U.S. mail and are considered taxable income.
 

TEAMS

• Each team will consist of four undergraduate business student members. Only business school students are eligible to participate in this competition. Gender diverse teams are strongly encouraged. Each university may submit no more than two teams.  Final eligibility determinations will be made by Villanova University.  

• Each team member must submit a one-page PDF resume and headshot (as a separate file) for inclusion in the Mulroy Challenge resume book. Each file must be saved as the student's university, last name and first name (e.g. Villanova_Doe_Jane). Any material exceeding one page will not be included. All students, judges, and sponsors will be provided with an electronic copy of the resume book which will include all participant resumes.

• Each team will select a team name that has no connection to their university, geographic region or any other characteristic that may hint at the identity of the team’s university. Teams will not provide any indication of which school they are representing and should refer to themselves by competition team names only. This includes PowerPoint slides, clothing, etc. The anonymity of the teams is central to all teams being treated with impartiality by the judges. 

• Each team must have at least one faculty advisor. The faculty advisor’s role is to acknowledge and approve the team’s participation on behalf of the university and confirm that all team members are currently enrolled undergraduate business students of the university. 

• Advisors are prohibited from providing the team with any guidance on the case once it has been distributed. The case is to be completed by the team members only, with no outside advisement or involvement of any other stakeholders. Advisors are welcomed and encouraged to attend the competition, but are not required to do so.

OTHER

• Please note, logistical questions may be submitted to jessica.taylor@villanova.edu at any time.

• All materials used in the case presentation by teams will become the property of the Mulroy Real Estate Challenge at Villanova University.