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Wall Street 101 Courses, Formats, and Schedule

The skills learned in the Wall Street 101 Program contribute to financial literacy, regardless of your intended college major or career. Bentley University has prepared students with these valuable life skills in the Wall Street 101 Program for over two decades. Our program is uniquely distinguished from others in its academic rigor, intensity, and hands-on experience. Each course is nearly equivalent to 15 to 20 percent of a college-level course and provides students with access to industry software and databases, including Bloomberg, FactSet, Morningstar Direct, and CapIQ, to perform the valuation of simulated investments. The courses offer trading simulations, debates, group assignments, guest lectures, and group presentations to develop capital markets insights.  In addition, the FinTech and Artificial Intelligence in Finance courses offer high school students a glimpse of how technology is used to modernize financial transactions, high-speed data processing, performance analysis, and user app evaluation.  

Combining finance, macroeconomics, and financial technology concepts, the Wall Street 101 Program helps you appreciate the forces changing the financial services industry. Even if you are not considering majoring in business in college, understanding the capital markets and evolving financial technology landscape is essential. 

The following courses are offered for Summer 2025.

Stock Market and Investment Research

This course teaches you what a financial analyst at a Wall Street firm does. Using industry-standard valuation models, you will learn about financial statement analysis, forecasting, risk analysis, and analyst recommendations. 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 an industry-standard stock pitch, present your stock pitch to clients or investment managers, and interact with financial executives.  

Prerequisite:  Attending this course without a background in the stock market might be challenging at first, but many students overcome the initial hurdle. We recommend a pre-program reading available on the internet (like many others): The Basics for Investing in Stocks to familiarize yourself with some concepts covered in the course. After that, you may want to read Mr. Peter Lynch's classic, "One Up on Wall Street." You can watch YouTube videos, including "The Ultimate Guide To Stock Market Investing" by Peter Lynch. Some students also find watching CNBC to be quite helpful.  

Macroeconomics and Financial Markets

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 stocks, bonds, currencies, and alternative assets.  As major policy decisions or economic, political, social, financial, and corporate news are announced, retail investors, traders, portfolio managers, and hedge funds, for example, change their trading and investment strategies.  Their trading decisions affect securities prices in real-time. 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.  This course is a gateway to understanding the link between the economy and the capital markets.

Wealth Management and Financial Planning

Whether you are interested in becoming a financial advisor in your career or better want to understand how to plan your own personal retirement, diversify your portfolio, understand taxes, and manage your own family wealth; this course is for you. Using hands on simulations to see how various decisions impact short- and long-term plans will help students better understand how financial planning works in the real world.      

Introduction to FinTech

This course provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the rapidly evolving financial technology landscape. Led by a seasoned FinTech Consultant, the course delves into key business functions, exploring the impact of technological innovations on various sectors. With a focus on modern technologies, regulatory considerations, and business model innovations, students gain valuable insights into the valuation of FinTech firms and the application of these concepts in real-world scenarios. Students develop critical thinking skills, extrapolate from current trends, and enhance startup offerings, with an emphasis on fostering a deep understanding of FinTech accelerator programs. Students finish the course with a group pitch competition presenting their ideas to a panel of external judges. Through theory and application, students are equipped with the tools to navigate the landscape of the FinTech industry.

Prerequisite: Some familiarity with basic finance and capital markets concepts is helpful. 

*The Summer 2025 Wall Street 101 has six weekly sessions (A-F).  Students can enroll in one course per week.  If you want to enroll in all five courses, register for one online course (Session A) and four in-person courses in the following weeks. Students attending multiple sessions receive 5% tuition discount for each additional course.  

**Waitlist: All waitlist students will be notified if a spot becomes available.  If a spot is unavailable, students can be refunded their application fee or transferred to an open section or an alternative course.

 

2025 Schedule: Application Opens in January

Session A (June 9 to June 13) -- Online

Format:

  • Online

Courses (pick one): 

  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets 
  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Wealth Management and Financial Planning

Session B (June 16 to June 20) -- In person

Formats:

  • Residential
  • Commuter

Courses (pick one):  

  • Intro to FinTech
  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets 
  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Wealth Management and Financial Markets

Session C (June 23 to June 27) -- In person

Formats:

  • Residential
  • Commuter 

Courses (pick one): 

  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Wealth Management and Financial Planning 

Session D (June 30 to July 4) -- In person

Formats:

  • Residential
  • Commuter
  • Classes are also held on July 4

Courses (pick one): 

  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Wealth Management and Financial Planning

Session E (July 7 to July 11) -- In person

Formats:

  • Residential
  • Commuter

Courses (pick one): 

  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets 
  • Wealth Management and Financial Planning

Session F (July 14 to July 18) -- In person

Formats:

  • Residential
  • Commuter

Courses (pick one): 

  • Intro to FinTech
  • Macroeconomics and Financial Markets
  • Stock Market and Investment Research
  • Wealth Management and Financial Planning