For first years: the Merrill Lynch Challenge

Open to first year university students, the annual Merrill Lynch Challenge pits student teams from across Europe against each other to win a €4k prize.

Anna Gawelowicz, a finance and banking student at Warsaw School of Economics and a member of this year's winning team, tells us what it's all about.

How does the Merrill Lynch Challenge work?

The first stage, which we were able to do from Poland, lasted nine weeks. The idea is you are given 10m to invest on a virtual platform - we could choose stocks or derivatives - and construct a portfolio to maximise the rate of return from the investment.

We applied as a team of four within the registration period; then we were given a login and a password to use the virtual platform where we could trade the 10m. Each of us could access this zone and make his/her own transactions, but we usually consulted each other before making our decision.

Every day the teams were ranked on the basis of the return from investment. After nine weeks of trading, the 20 teams with the best results were asked to report to Merrill Lynch on the strategy we followed during the trading game.

The eight teams with highest results and best reports were then invited to London for the week-long final.

We attended various presentations to help us get to know Merrill Lynch and then for the final two days we were given a case study which, on the last day, we had to make a presentation about in front of a jury.

The case study was looking at a start-up, preparing a business plan around an idea for disposable raincoats in order to pitch for financing from Merrill Lynch.

We had to make assumptions and forecasts in terms of possible financial performance of the company as well as formulate a marketing strategy. The final presentation was supposed to last only 10 minutes, during which we had to convince the jury of ML employees that they should choose our idea and provide our company with financing.

Why do you think your team won?

First, as time was so tight, we chose only two people from the team (me and a friend) to give the speech, though later on all four of us answered the jury's questions. This helped us to stand out as other teams split their presentation between all members.

Second, we tried to keep it very accurate, concentrating on financial projections of future cash flows and possible financing scenarios, so that nothing was misunderstood and we could easily explain any questions.

Finally, we made sure the financial model we constructed was well estimated and our financial forecasts were acceptable for the business characteristics.

Do you think being on the winning team will help your career?

Yes, it was a unique chance to gain great experiences which will definitely be useful in our future jobs. All eight teams were given an opportunity to take part in the assessment centre for summer internships next year.

· This year's Merrill Lynch Challenge will be open to students graduating in 2010, who will get the chance to win a place on the bank's week-long spring programme. This year, more teams are being invited to enter: 12 compared with eight last year.

While firm deadlines for entry have yet to be confirmed, registration normally takes place in December.

For further information, see www.ml.com

The challenge will take place via the eFinancialCareers website in January.