The Princeton Review has published their ranking of the top 25 college graduate and undergraduate entrepreneurship programs. To determine their rankings, The Princeton Review surveyed more than 2,000 graduate business school students and their schools through April, May and June of 2014. There were three primary criteria for ranking the college programs:
1.) a commitment to entrepreneurship shown through enrollment numbers and entrepreneurship specific offerings within the curriculum;
2.) the availability of internships, externships and cooperative learning; and
3.) entrepreneurial funding success rates of faculty, students and alumni.
Below are the Top Three College Graduate Program for Entrepreneurship in the United States:
#3 – University of Michigan
Graduate students at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor can earn a MsE degree (Master of Entrepreneurship). With a third place ranking, graduate students at the University of Michigan can take over 60 different graduate school classes related to Entrepreneurship. According to the school’s website, the program starts with a “technology and business “boot camp,” designed to provide an overview of technology-based entrepreneurship.” The school also reports that 54% of faculty have started, bought or run their own business. And over the last 5 years graduates of the program have reported they started 106 companies.
The University of Michigan also has the Michigan Growth Capital Symposium which matches business ideas to funding. Over the last 30 years more than 1 billion dollars of funding have been invested in new businesses through this program.
#2 – Babson College
Located in Wellesley, Massachusetts, near Boston, the Babson College program offers MBA and MSM degrees to its graduate students. As an interesting side note, Babson College offers the top ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program from this same survey. At Babson College one hundred percent of the faculty have started, bought or run their own business. The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson offers 55 undergraduate courses and 79 graduate classes.
The 15th annual Rocket Pitch was held at Babson College on November 6th. During the event Babson students and alumni are invited to pitch their business ideas for a variety of industries including consumer products, energy, technology, and more. Each person is given the opportunity to present three slides in three minutes. A time keeper makes sure all pitches are synchronized in the multiple rooms so attendees can travel between locations during the two minute transition period between pitches.
Babson College also offers an annual Summer Venture Program, a 10-week program that includes 15 teams of Babson’s “most promising” students. Housing, work space, advisors and other resources are provided to help the teams accelerate the development of their businesses over the 10-week time period. At the end of the program a Summer Venture Showcase is held so professional investors and local community members can see the students’ progress.
#1 – Harvard
Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University ranked first place for their graduate program in entreprenuership.
At Harvard, the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship offers 33 graduate level entrepreneurship courses. Of the faculty for these courses, 57 percent have started, bought or run their own successful businesses. Graduates of the Harvard program receive an MBA and have started a reported total of 182 companies.
The Arthur Rock Center has an Entrepreneurs-in-Residence program where accomplished entrepreneurs spend time at the Rock Center. For a semester or two they give informal talks and are available to counsel students in both career choices and business planning.