Top 10 Graduate Programs 2008 If you're looking to hone your entrepreneurial skills, don't miss our look at the top graduate programs in the country.
What better place to learn about entrepreneurship than from professors who have already experienced it themselves?
With the Princeton Review, Entrepreneur magazine compiled a list of the top 25 graduate programs for entrepreneurship in the country. Here, we take a more in-depth look at the top 10. Whether you prefer the East Coast, West Coast or somewhere in between, you'll be sure to find a well-respected program that will put you on the path to business ownership.
Babson College
The Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
Location: Babson Park, Massachusetts
Enrolled students: 1,583
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 95 percent
Babson believes that the links between business and art, and entrepreneurs and artists are compelling and rich. The two-year MBA program features creativity as one of the early and essential components. Rather than engaging intellectually with creativity, for example, by reading scholarly articles, discussing theories or simply talking in a classroom setting about what creativity might be, Babson MBA students actively "practice" creativity.
DePaul University
DePaul University Entrepreneurship Program
Location: Chicago
Enrolled students: 155
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 100 percent
DePaul offers students exposure to thousands of successful entrepreneurs in a large urban setting with sophisticated financing services available. Entrepreneurial supporters are extremely active in sharing knowledge, resources, contacts and expertise. The program provides very supportive administration and infrastructure through the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.
University of Southern California
Marshall School of Business Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Location: Los Angeles
Enrolled students: 1,059
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 100 percent
University of Southern California's program covers the entire span on entrepreneurship while teaching against a model of feasibility. Real entrepreneurs don't write business plans--initially. The school's success is its alumni, which include Paul Orfalea of Kinko's, Marc Benioff of SalesForce.com, Chris DeWolfe of MySpace.com, and Dave Gilbert and Dan Feder of FivePoint Capital.
The University of Arizona
McGuire Entrepreneurship Program
Location: Tucson, Arizona
Enrolled students: 75
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 78 percent
The University of Arizona has been successful in identifying an approach that mirrors a real-world process and that's transferrable to any type of idea in any environment. The McGuire Program is among a very few programs in the country that is named in the top 5 percent in every ranking and rating, regardless of metrics, measures or goals of the ranking. This is an indication that the programs created and delivered here equip students with the broadest possible skill set to help them achieve their professional goals.
University of South Florida
Center for Entrepreneurship
Location: Tampa, Florida
Enrolled students: 1,167
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 97 percent
The university provides international leadership in the area of interdisciplinary entrepreneurship with a focus on interdisciplinary life sciences entrepreneurship supported by 12 full-time teaching faculty and four part-time adjunct professional faculty. The school's programs are effective in aiding technology transfer and commercialization and have assisted in the launch of more than 40 new ventures in the past four years using university-based technologies. The entrepreneurship students have provided on an annual basis more than 60,000 man-hours of consulting assistance to local entrepreneurial organizations and businesses, both not-for-profit, socially aware and for-profit organizations.
University of Illinois, Chicago
Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies
Location: Chicago
Enrolled students: 182
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 94 percent
The two-year old Technology Venture Program has been highly successful, winning business plan competitions nationally and going on to compete in the top competition, Moot Corp. This year the school was in the final six in this worldwide competition. A key part of the program has been to commercialize outstanding health science technologies from the medical colleges. The university is rapidly expanding entrepreneurship coursework in its other colleges, including art, architecture, nursing, medicine and engineering, with courses also open to all students.
University of California, Los Angeles
Anderson School of Management Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Location: Los Angeles
Enrolled students: 1,600
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 100 percent
California is a hotbed for high-tech, life science, real estate and entertainment companies, which house many of the school's alumni. Many of the students do not launch businesses while in school; coming to Anderson for an MBA is more than a full-time job in itself. And many do not launch upon graduation. But they do join other growing organizations or companies that advise, finance and consult, in order to learn more about the entrepreneurial sector, and ultimately, start a company of their own.
Drexel University
LeBow College of Business Entrepreneurship
Location: Philadelphia
Enrolled students: 87
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 100 percent
One of the most unique and exciting features of LeBow College's graduate program in entrepreneurship is the New Ventures Projects Online, a proprietary web community that brings together regional entrepreneurs and LeBow students. Entrepreneurs submit specific problems for which they are seeking assistance. The graduate students can view the submitted problems and choose one that interests them. Students, either for credit or personal enrichment, will work with the entrepreneur, under the guidance of a Baiada Center Mentor.
Chapman University
Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Business Ethics
Location: Orange, California
Enrolled students: 45
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 100 percent
Chapman offers a joint MBA/JD--focus on entrepreneurship and law--and a joint MBA/MFA with the nationally ranked Dodge College of Film and Media Arts. The school is a national leader in entertainment entrepreneurship study, boasting alumni contacts and proximity to Hollywood, TV broadcasting, Disneyland and the tourism industry in Southern California. The program's links with academic units allow graduate entrepreneurship students to use the resources of the entire campus in the development of their ventures.
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Kenan-Flagler Business School Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Enrolled students: 1,300
Faculty who are entrepreneurs: 94 percent
Kenan-Flagler has a unique strength internationally in venture capital and private equity. It's nationally recognized for the depth of curriculum in private equity finance, deal structure and valuation. The Venture Capital Investment Competition is the nation's premier student venture capital competition, with the leading business school participating in regional competitions throughout the U.S. and Europe, with an Asian competition being added this year. As a capstone of the program, the school is forming two student-managed venture funds: one investing in private equity and a second focused on real estate.
