NUCC Fall 2025 - my notes
Sofia

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got there around 8:45, registration was slow, ran into the Wharton team at check-in

case topic: retail supply chain disruption (didn't see this coming - thought it would be finance-heavy)
had to surrender phones during prep which was annoying but fine

prep room was small, we stood the whole time
marcus took the lead on the financial model, priya did market sizing, jordan and I worked the framework
felt rushed at the end, didn't get a full run-through

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our slot was 3rd out of 14 (drew unlucky, judges might have been fresher for earlier teams??)

presentation went well overall - jordan opened strong
judges were quiet during the pres which was hard to read
rebecca cho pushed hard on our market sizing numbers - asked where the $4.2B TAM came from
marcus handled the financials Q&A really well, stayed calm
daniel osei seemed satisfied with our recommendation but wanted more on implementation risk
prof ashworth asked about second-order effects on suppliers - we had a decent answer

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results announced around 5:15
2nd overall!! really happy
1st on presentation score (didn't expect that)
3rd on analysis - lost points on market sizing, which tracks given rebecca's questions

michigan team won overall - their opening was really tight, two sentences and they were into the framework
talked to one of them after, apparently they practice Q&A as its own thing every session

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alumni reception after
talked to james chen (mckinsey, alum from like 2018?) - gave good advice about structuring the opening
rachel sung was there too - bain - said she judges these sometimes and presentation score is usually underweighted by teams
good energy, people seemed happy with how we did

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things to remember for next time:
- we needed more time on delivery at the end of prep, spent too long on the model
- market sizing needs a source not just a number
- Q&A practice should be a regular thing
- the michigan team's opening structure was noticeably better than ours