Frequently Asked Questions

Can teams have male members?

While this competition is designed to highlight collegiate women entrepreneurs, male team members are eligible to participate in limited capacity and are permitted to attend the competition if your team is selected. However, the Team Leader must be an undergraduate woman.

If it is determined that a team with male members is simply “using” a female for eligibility purposes, the team will automatically be disqualified and forfeit any monetary prizes awarded to the team.

How are written applications evaluated?

Every written submission is evaluated by three (3) members of a selection committee, with their overall scores averaged in order to determine a team’s ranking.

Does the Selection Committee have a quota of teams from each school?

The first round evaluation process is a double-blind process: members of the selection committee are anonymous and the selection committee does not see the school information for any team. Teams that include school information (including email address) in the Executive Summary will be disqualified.

How soon after the initial deadline will we find out if we made it to the next round?

Team Leaders will receive a competition status update email from draper@smith.edu by no later than 11:59 p.m. on the notificate date.