Think you can get an A in Bio 101? Care to bet?
Alex Winter, 20, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, visits the Ultrinisc website.
Short on tuition money?
A new company is offering college students a chance to make a little cash on the side -- by betting on their own performances.
Undergraduate students at 36 universities around the country -- including the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State University -- can wager on their own grades though a New York-based company called Ultrinsic.
"What this does is that it encourages students to focus their energy on school," said company co-founder Jeremy Gelbart. "If they're as passionate about getting a grade in their class as they are about playing poker with their friends, I'm thrilled."
Of course, the 23-year-old Mr. Gelbart would also be thrilled if the company makes money for him and his co-founder, Steven Wolf.
The two formed the idea for the company several years ago, when Mr. Gelbart and Mr. Wolf were hanging out one Sunday afternoon. Then a student at the University of Pennsylvania, Mr. Gelbart told Mr. Wolf that he knew he could get an A on a test the next day but he didn't feel like studying.
To motivate Mr. Gelbart, Mr. Wolf told him that he'd give him $100 if he got an A on the test. If he didn't get an A, Mr. Gelbart would have to pay Mr. Wolf $20.
"I'm going to study," Mr. Gelbart told him. "We'll hang out after I take your money."
The two launched a pilot version of the company last year, taking bets from about 600 students at New York University and the University of Pennsylvania.
Representatives for Pitt and Penn State declined to comment on the idea of their students betting on their grades.
For the upcoming semester, Ultrinsic allows students to net a maximum of $50 per class. The company will determine how much a student would need to wager to win that $50, based on factors such as the student's grade point average, schedule and difficulty of the class.
"Pottery 101 or something like that" would be a tougher wager than organic chemistry, said Mr. Gelbart.
Students can also place multi-class bets and yearlong bets, said Mr. Gelbart, noting that the maximum that anybody could win in the upcoming school year is $2,500. Mr. Gelbart estimated that thousands of students had already signed up on the company's website,
www.ultrinsic.com.
Students can also purchase "grade insurance" that would give them some money back in the event that they fail a class or receive a poor grade.
Though the concept sounds like gambling, Mr. Gelbart said that it is legal because students are staking money on something "all in their control -- it's not like rolling a die or playing the lottery."
Ultrinsic is promoting itself mainly through on-campus ambassadors, who generate word of mouth. Students who refer others receive 5 percent of their referred friend's winnings.
"It encourages friends to tell their friends to study," said Mr. Gelbart. "In a month from now, when they say, 'Let's hang out, let's go to the movies,' the friend says 'No no no, you have to study.' "
The company has been criticized both for introducing students to gambling and for replacing a pure love of learning with a love of cash.
Mr. Gelbart said that he preferred to think of the "incentives" as a little extra motivation.
"That's a great ideal -- that students like learning and they enjoy classes," said Mr. Gelbart. "But when you have to pull an all-nighter, it's more like work. That's what you need the incentive for."
