Applications Open! Enroll for Summer 2027 at 2026 Tuition Pricing Until Sept 30
Value a public company and present your findings in this two-week Dartmouth academy for high school students.
Rated 4.4 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
Students study how finance, accounting, economics, marketing, strategy, and communication work together inside a modern business. Instead of treating each subject as a separate unit, the course uses one collaborative public-company valuation project to connect the ideas.
Case studies, spreadsheets, financial analysis, and group discussions help students examine how companies identify customers, generate revenue, finance growth, compete, manage risk, and evaluate new opportunities. Teams interpret business information and apply it to both organizational choices and familiar personal-finance questions.
The project culminates in a presentation of findings and analysis supported by data and financial reasoning. Students explain their assumptions and show how market forces, innovation, strategy, and risk can affect a company’s value.
The valuation gives the academy a common thread. New ideas in accounting, markets, customers, and strategy are tested against the same company, helping students see how one change in an assumption can alter both the analysis and the conclusion.
This two-week full-day academy is part of Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars. Students spend the full program focused on one intensive academy. The academy is available to residential and commuter students. Beyond class, students connect focused academic work with campus life, growing independence, and clearer direction about what students may want to study or pursue next. The program is developed and academically led by Dartmouth.
Instructor Bio
Patroklos Karantinos grew up in Greece, where he received undergraduate and graduate degrees in finance. He spent five years in corporate finance and M&A advisory, during which he became a CFA charter holder. In 2012, he received his MBA from The Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. After graduating from Tuck, Patroklos worked for eight years in higher education, including five years at Tuck, focusing on institutional strategy and growth, and three years in public sector consulting. Patroklos has been working with the Tuck Business Bridge Programs since 2011 and in the summer of 2024, he taught the Business Foundations course, in the inaugural Dartmouth Summer Scholars program. Outside of work, he enjoys doodling.
What Will You Do?
• Study foundations in accounting, finance, economics, marketing, and strategy
• Analyze how a public company serves customers and generates revenue
• Build and interpret a spreadsheet-based valuation model
• Evaluate investment opportunities, risk, competition, and growth
• Apply financial reasoning to business and personal-finance decisions
• Collaborate on a public-company analysis
• Present professional findings supported by data
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Explain how core business functions contribute to company decisions and value
• Use financial analysis and market evidence to evaluate a public company
• Present collaborative findings with clear quantitative reasoning
Students leave with a completed company valuation and presentation, stronger business judgment, and clearer direction about finance, economics, marketing, management, or entrepreneurship.
Why Business Analysis Skills Matter
Business analysis helps students connect numbers, customers, markets, and strategy. A spreadsheet can show performance, but sound judgment also requires asking what drives revenue, how a company competes, and which assumptions shape a valuation.
Working through a public-company project builds financial literacy, evidence-based reasoning, teamwork, and professional communication. Students learn to move from information to a defensible recommendation, a skill used in finance, consulting, accounting, marketing, entrepreneurship, nonprofit leadership, and many other settings where decisions have economic consequences.
Who Should Attend?
This academy is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are curious about how companies operate, compete, grow, and make financial decisions. It is a strong fit for interests in business, finance, economics, accounting, marketing, management, or entrepreneurship.
Participants should be ready to work with spreadsheets and quantitative information, discuss case studies, collaborate on a company analysis, and present their findings. Careful reasoning, comfort asking questions, and a willingness to explain assumptions will be more important than arriving with specialized knowledge.
Recommended by 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in the Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars program (2026)
Why Dartmouth?
Dartmouth Precollege Summer Scholars gives high school students a concentrated introduction to college-level learning in Hanover, New Hampshire. The program is developed and academically led by Dartmouth. Students explore current ideas through discussion, projects, and sustained work that helps them test an academic interest in depth.
Residential students live in Dartmouth residence halls, eat at 53 Commons, and can join workshops and counselor-supported evening and weekend activities. Time in Hanover and the Upper Valley adds a distinctive New England setting, while the broader experience helps students build independence and clarify what they may want to study next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive