Ateneo wins Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge International Team Finals

Students from Ateneo de Manila University won the 2023 International Team Finals of the Microsoft Excel Collegiate Challenge (MECC) held virtually last December 1.

Representing Ateneo in the International Team Finals were Juan Miguel Cardaño (4 BSM AMF), Janna Karyl Quinto (4 BS ME), and Jared Matthew Ong (4 BS ME). The three also participated in the online individual rounds of the competition earlier this year, where they ranked 26th, 48th, and 56th respectively.

The students were supported in their efforts by Alfonso Miguel N. Sevidal (BS ME ’17) from the Department of Finance and Accounting, and Armin Paul D. Allado (BS ME ’12) and Beatrice Marie D. Chan (BS ME ’23) from the Department of Quantitative Methods and Information Technology.

The MECC is a global competition for university students that tests Excel modeling and logical thinking skills. The competition involves case studies and the preparation of financial models under individual and team categories.

The competition was organized by the Financial Modeling World Cup and the University of Arizona - Eller College of Management.

This year’s MECC season featured 3,272 participating students from 531 universities across 73 countries.

During the International Team Finals, the team had to solve a case on admissions data featuring seven levels and three bonus questions in a span of 30 minutes. At the end of the final round, Team Ateneo garnered the highest overall score of 1,515, outlasting fellow finalists INSCAE from Madagascar (1,048) and Curtin University from Australia (900).

Recently, Ateneo, through the John Gokongwei School of Management, became the first MECC Partner School in Southeast Asia.

The 2023 MECC International Team Finals were broadcast live on YouTube last December 1 and can be viewed on this link.