Top 50 Best Undergrad Programs for Entrepreneurs in 2021 The Princeton Review, in partnership with Entrepreneur, ranks the top undergraduate programs.
By Entrepreneur Staff Edited by Dan Bova
In normal times, top-tier entrepreneurship programs are focused on the fundamentals - teaching their students everything from budgeting to leadership. But in these unpredictable times, the schools are also serving as a touchpoint for their budding entrepreneurial communities: They're providing information on things like lending programs and workplace safety, hosting virtual town halls, setting up emergency funds for students, and helping their students support the communities they live in. In other words, these schools are living their message - shifting and adapting the way any entrepreneur must.
Entrepreneurship doesn't require a degree, of course, but programs like these can arm students with the skills they need to succeed. It's why for the past 15 years we have partnered with The Princeton Review to rank the top undergraduate and graduate programs for entrepreneurs. This year's survey considered more than 250 colleges and universities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe, and evaluated a multitude of factors. We took into account not just the school's programming but also its graduates' success rates in the business world, the number of mentors available for students, and more. See which schools made the grade. (To read more about our methodology, pick up our Dec. 2020 issue of Entrepreneur.)
1. University of Houston
University of Houston
Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship
Houston, Texas
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 38
Tuition: $11,276 (in-state); $26,936 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 637
What Sets Us Apart
• Our integrated, lockstep curriculum, and range of extra-curriculars to develop students who often come from humble backgrounds.
• Our collaborations with UH Division of Research, MD Anderson, NASA, UH Valenti School of Communication, UH Industrial Design program, and the Digital Media program at UH Sugar Land in developing business plans.
• RED Labs was one of the first student business accelerators in the US and works with Rice's OwlSpark for the benefit of students from both schools.
• Bayou Startup showcase is a unique joint demo day for RED Labs and OwlSpark, attended by more than 400 members of the Houston entrepreneurial ecosystem. This year, Texas A&M was also added to the program.
• The SURE program promotes startups in under-resourced communities. This program helped start more than 300 businesses to date.
• Cougar Venture Fund was one of the first student-driven early-stage investment funds.
• Wolffest is unique in form and magnitude. Our students run pop-up businesses that net more than $200,000 in profits and contributions per annum (pre-Covid).• Our students learn the ins and outs of starting an Amazon store their first semester in the program, ensuring all students start a business before they graduate. We are innovative as well as distinctive.
2. Babson College
Babson College
Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
Babson Park, Massachusetts
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 39
Tuition: $52,608
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 295
What Sets Us Apart
Babson College educates entrepreneurial leaders who create great economic and social value everywhere. Entrepreneurship is more than an academic discipline at Babson; it is a way of life. We teach entrepreneurship as a method so that students practice Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® (ET & A) in a variety of curricular and co-curricular settings, both on campus and around the world. Entrepreneurship is a required course for every single Babson student, and 70% of students take one of more than 70 electives. Babson College has the largest dedicated entrepreneurial faculty in the world. The entrepreneurship department has 51 faculty members; 23 full-time academics and 28 adjuncts, 100% of whom have both entrepreneurial and teaching experience. We have trained over 5,000 faculty from all over the world in our unique pedagogy of teaching entrepreneurship, in our Price Babson Entrepreneurship Educators Program. Our campus is a living/learning laboratory, with five entrepreneurial centers where students can pursue their passions for social innovation, start-ups, family entrepreneurship, women-led entrepreneurship, and food solutions, in accelerators, laboratories and other immersive experiences. The Weissman Foundry is a unique prototyping and experimentation lab for our students. Babson's entrepreneurial culture encourages faculty, staff, students, and alumni to be entrepreneurial leaders all the time, exploring, pursuing and growing initiatives and ventures.
3. Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology
Provo, Utah
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 57
Tuition: $5,790 (in-state); $11,580 (NON-LDS)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 501
What Sets Us Apart
After careful review, we believe we may have the finest integrated core for teaching entrepreneurship in the world. The curriculum reflects the latest academic thinking and research in the field and is augmented with real-world experiential learning components and frameworks. Our curriculum is deeply rooted in lean startup and design thinking principles and practices. In fact, we were one of the first universities to comprehensively adopt this approach in our entrepreneurship education. To this day, many schools around the world continue to teach their students to write static and outdated business plans instead of identifying, testing, and pivoting on key business model hypotheses. Lean methodologies help entrepreneurs operate more effectively and efficiently within the areas of uncertainty that they face every day as they search for a repeatable and scalable business model and aim to achieve product/market fit. This approach is allowing us to educate smarter entrepreneurs who launch validated ventures that last. Cutting edge academic offerings combined with deep mentoring is our secret sauce. We also recently launched a new venture studio program called Blue Forge Studio. While venture studios are popping up these days in the industry, we believe this may be the first program of its kind on a university campus. It is designed to provide startups with access to critical human capital and expertise versus financial capital.
4. University of Michigan
University of Michigan
Center for Entrepreneurship & Center for Socially Engaged Design-College of Engineering; EXCEL-School of Music, Theatre and Dance; OptiMize-College of Literature, Science,&Arts;School of Education; School of Information; Zell Lurie Institute-Ross School of Business
Ann Arbor, MI
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 125
Tuition: $16,540 (in-state); $52,997 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 373
What Sets Us Apart
Our approach provides a rich portfolio of programs, leveraging an unparalleled alumni network and global resources unique to the University of Michigan. These programs are coupled with project-based, experiential learning accessible to students in all 19 schools and colleges. U-M's entrepreneurship offerings include interdisciplinary courses, programs, student organizations, and events that incorporate partnerships with startups and innovative ventures. This approach pushes students to apply their learning outcomes to current real-world problems. Students have access to internship and mentorship opportunities that are specifically designed to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and create pathways to pursue high-growth potential businesses. For example, TechLab pairs students teams with autonomous vehicle startups to deploy state-of-the-art transportation technology, using the world-leading Mcity test track. OptiMize's Social Innovation Challenge, with ongoing workshops and mentorship, for nearly 40 student-team projects selected for their impact as change-making ventures. Both Ross School of Business/Zell Entrepreneurs and the College of Engineering/Entrepreneurs Leadership Program offer elite fellowships designed to provide students with mentorship, resources and funding. U-M gives students the opportunity to apply entrepreneurship in order to carve out creative, stimulating futures that offer economic security and the opportunity to contribute positively to society.
5. Tecnológico de Monterrey
Tecnológico de Monterrey
Institute for Entrepreneurship Eugenio Garza Lagüera
NuevoLeón, MEXICO
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 80
Tuition: varies by program
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 1,419
What Sets Us Apart
Entrepreneurship is ingrained in our university's DNA and we have full-English undergrad programs. One hundred percent of our undergrad students develop entrepreneurial skills. Our "Tec21' model enhances entrepreneurship education for everyone transforming course-classroom-lectures into a challenge-projects-mentorship. Historically 2.8 million jobs created worldwide by alumni in 75 years.
We are recognized as the leading entrepreneurship university in Latin America, with 21 business incubators, 11 technology parks and liaison offices in Silicon Valley and China. We have alliances with top entrepreneurship universities: Babson, BYU, Berkeley; accelerators: Y-Combinator, 500 Startups. China and Israel connection programs.
Tec de Monterrey sponsored the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM). In 2019, INCmty festival reached more than 15,000 people and global leaders. Read more on Tec de Monterrey Entrepreneurship.
6. University of Maryland
University of Maryland
Academy for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
College Park, Maryland
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 71
Tuition: $10,779 (in-state); $36,891 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 307
What Sets Us Apart
Innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) is the highest strategic priority of the President of University of Maryland (UMD). I&E at UMD is not limited to just the business and engineering schools. In fact, non-business and non-engineering students are every bit as important to include in the innovation process because that process isn't as rich and has inferior outcomes without that diversity. For that reason, UMD launched the Academy for I&E in 2013 that reports directly to the President and the Provost with a campus-wide purview and mission to engage all 40,000 students in all 12 colleges and schools in I&E. UMD is now about 50% of the way there through extensive campus-wide collaboration across every school and college and systematic embedding of I&E modules in many required general education and pre-requisite courses for certain majors. More at innovation.umd.edu/learn. We view entrepreneurship as a way of thinking, doing and being that can be applied to most aspects of work and life. It is an exercise in self-expression, team building and problem-solving in order to create new value in the world. The study and practice of entrepreneurship helps students build self-confidence and develop important personal skills in areas like creativity and leadership. Students learn concepts and methods like need-finding, opportunity recognition, value creation, design thinking, business modeling and project planning & management. These can be applied throughout their careers.
7. Baylor University
Baylor University
John F. Baugh Center for Entrepreneurship
Waco, Texas
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 17
Tuition: $49,436
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 1,000
What Sets Us Apart
Baylor University was one of the earliest entrants into formal entrepreneurship curriculum development, classroom training and experiential learning. Baylor began offering formal classes in entrepreneurship in 1978. While Baylor's entrepreneurship capabilities have expanded dramatically over the past 42 years, we are a leading research university in the field of entrepreneurship and remain committed to providing world-class entrepreneurship education. Our educational focus includes two core objectives: 1) Foster the entrepreneurial spirit and mindset in all students by providing them the tools needed to start ventures. 2) Provide an intent focus on core values needed for students to build a meaningful life. We seek to achieve the first objective by immersing our student's in a rigorous curriculum centered on the belief that the best way to learn entrepreneurship is to experience it. Hence, all Baylor entrepreneurship courses have a heavy experiential learning component. Our second objective is fundamental to Baylor's Christian Mission and conveys our belief that entrepreneurial pursuits are a reflection of a higher purpose. We believe entrepreneurship serves not just economic function, but also a social purpose in the sense that entrepreneurs' activities can change the world for the better. Our Social Entrepreneurship track is a concrete manifestation of this approach.
8. Northeastern University
Northeastern University
Northeastern University Center for Entrepreneurship Education
Boston, Massachusetts
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 43
Tuition: $53,506
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 393
What Sets Us Apart
- Northeastern University specializes in the area of experiential entrepreneurship education. The combination of our IDEA incubator, more than 250 Co-op jobs around the world in small companies or VC firms, plus the project-focused nature of our courses makes for a powerful combination.
- Coursework. Undergrad courses have 4 tracks: tech ventures, family business, social enterprise, and corporate innovation. We also have a Semester in Silicon Valley.
- Summer venture consulting courses are held in Italy, South Korea, Israel, South Africa, and India.
- Entrepreneurship Co-op. NU is top-ranked in Cooperative Education. Entrepreneurship Co-op places students in paid 6-month in more than 250 small firms.
- Mentor Networks. There are two mentor networks (one general business, the other life sciences) with more than 250 active members working ventures being started by Northeastern students and alums.
- MOSAIC. An alliance of 12 student-led organizations complementing the IDEA incubator where students help ventures with prototyping, Web design, IP, and others. MOSAIC is unique. NU's entrepreneurship ecosystem is a truly interdisciplinary environment. More than half of the students involved in entrepreneurship and the IDEA incubator come from outside the business school. This level of interdisciplinary, experiential learning is the basis for the recognition by the Deshpande Foundation for leading Entrepreneurial University in 2018.
9. Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis
Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship
St. Louis, Missouri
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 47
Tuition: $57,386
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 76
What Sets Us Apart
The most unique and distinctive aspects of our approach to entrepreneurship education: integrating multiple disciplines combined with rigorous academics. Those same standards are reflected in the co-curricular opportunities provided by the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which encourages students to take action on new ideas and become creative problem solvers well-suited for today's changing economy. While many students choose to enroll in entrepreneurial programs with the goal of starting ventures, many others seek to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to corporations and non-profits. Any student in the entrepreneurship major, or any major, cannot leave our institution without interacting with students from other levels, disciplines and the region. Increasingly, students can't leave WashU without engaging in entrepreneurship either. In August 2019, nearly 1/3 of the first-year class participated in a 3-day immersive experience around innovation and entrepreneurship. This interdisciplinary, inclusive, holistic approach separates WashU from peer institutions.
10. University of Utah
University of Utah
Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute
Salt Lake, Utah
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 28
Tuition: $9,498 (in-state); $30,132 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 281
What Sets Us Apart
Our approach to entrepreneurship education is unique in its pedagogy, academic strengths, and vast resources available to students. We challenge four basic assumptions about entrepreneurship by approaching business discovery and creation differently. First, we teach students how to experiment and pivot, not to focus on creating business plans. Second, we teach students the principles of lean startup and modern methods of fundraising such as crowdsourcing, because large amounts of capital are no longer required. Third, we believe students should learn by doing – including starting businesses while in college. Fourth, we believe successful entrepreneurship is a team activity requiring many types of people – not the product of a "lone genius." Our academic strength includes how we merge award-winning entrepreneurship and strategy faculty, creating a blended department and giving students a broader understanding of value creation, and business formation and development. Our courses focus on helping students develop skills essential to success: market entry, competitive advantage, supply chain management, digital marketing, data analytics, and fundraising. We add to these qualities unmatched resources for startups available to all students in our five-story Lassonde Studios building. The link between learning and doing is evident in all our courses and activities – from global challenges to business model innovation to entrepreneurship and economic development.
11. Iowa State University
Iowa State University
Iowa State Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship
Ames, Iowa
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 89
Tuition: $9,320 (in-state); $24,508 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 390
What Sets Us Apart
As part of President Wintersteen's "Innovate @ Iowa State" initiative, the university opened its $84 million, four-story, multi-disciplinary student-innovation center offering entrepreneurship courses, experiential programs, a wide variety of maker spaces, learning labs and several student-run retail businesses. Iowa State's entrepreneurship programs are well-established and deeply integrated across all colleges. Iowa State promotes entrepreneurship through the Center for Entrepreneurship and the Student Innovation Center, as well as college-level initiatives such as the Agriculture Entrepreneurship Initiative, Engineering Entrepreneurship, Liberal Arts and Sciences Innovation + Entrepreneurship Academy, as well as the Apparel, Events, and Hospitality Management Entrepreneurship Initiative. The entrepreneurship program is a central component in the university's ecosystem that starts on campus in the classrooms and expands to the ISU Research Park, where students can connect with the larger entrepreneurship community. This 400-acre Research Park has doubled in size over the past four years and is now home to 100 companies. The new $12 million Core Facility houses the Pappajohn Center for Entrepreneurship, IP Offices, Small Business Development Center, CYstarters student accelerator, NSF I-Corps, Startup Factory and CyBIZ Lab student consulting.
12. Drexel University
12 Drexel University
Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 43
Tuition: $54,516
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 109
What Sets Us Apart
Newly accredited in 2020 by AACSB under Drexel's university-wide accreditation, the Close School holds the distinction of being the nation's first independent degree-granting School of Entrepreneurship among 3K+ higher-ed institutions offering entrepreneurship programs. Independent from our business school, we believe entrepreneurship to be a unique discipline, rather than an amalgamation of business disciplines, distinct from other professions. The "fourth industrial revolution'" reinstates the value in and demand for initiative, independence, innovation and the intellectual dexterity to reimagine ways of working, thinking, and doing. Close has pioneered an approach to entrepreneurship education that addresses these skills and competencies by teaching students to be entrepreneurial thinkers and doers, preparing them to meet the global market on solid personal and professional footing to design their own futures. This is in line with the current philosophy of entrepreneurship, a shift from venture creation to thinking/acting entrepreneurially. We have the responsibility to develop discovery, reasoning and implementation skills of our students so that they excel in highly uncertain environments. Students leave Close with an expansive view of what it means to be entrepreneurial. Entrepreneurship comes to represent both habit of mind and an attitude. We guide students in the cultivation of a life approach toward innovative thinking, calculated daring and proactive behavior.
13. The University of Miami
The University of Miami
The Launch Pad
Coral Gables, Florida
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 32
Tuition: $50,226
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 546
What Sets Us Apart
The Miami Herbert Business School inculcates not only rigorous research, but demands a parallel track of application, meaning the students here are not just practicing in the classroom, but they are simultaneously powering, building and improving their startups in concert with their schoolwork. Thus, scholarship to startup is in the making — not just in theory or for check-box certificates. The pulse at the Herbert Business School is professional, the deliverable exponential, the demeanor sartorial. Many, if not most, graduates stay in the area because of the incredible access to capital, competencies and cosmopolitan offerings. We are building five new centers of excellence including the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute, an 80,000-square-foot facility with labs, makerspaces and collaborative classrooms to foster grassroots entrepreneurship and scale up.
14. Michigan State University
Michigan State University
Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
East Lansing, Michigan
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 47
Tuition: $16,650 (in-state); $41,002 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 691
What Sets Us Apart
Michigan State University's approach to entrepreneurship education is distinctive because it expands a student's academic platform, regardless of their major or enrolled college, and adds an element of entrepreneurship to their formal education. It is designed so that students can experience entrepreneurship lightly, such as by attending a lecture series, or by going deep, such as by earning a minor in entrepreneurship and/or starting a company. Entrepreneurship at MSU is infused into the university curriculum via the breadth of electives from 26 departments across campus. The participation rate of African-American students in the entrepreneurship minor occurs at a rate over 50% higher than the campus population, and the participation among females continues to grow steadily. The entrepreneurship program helps prepare students for dynamic careers in a world that is rapidly evolving and ever-changing and which will demand that they be constantly learning — regardless of whether they start their own business. Fine arts majors, public servants, performance artists, engineers, scientists and academics can all benefit from developing an "entrepreneurial mindset." Our focus is all about cultivating a student's capabilities, regardless of their academic, social or cultural background, with a varied menu of offerings to suit a diverse student base. This breadth, diversity and inclusiveness are what make Michigan State's program unique and distinctive.
15. Miami University
Miami University
John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship
Oxford, Ohio
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 37
Tuition: $15,378 (in-state); $34,895 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 208
What Sets Us Apart
Miami University's entrepreneurship program has been ranked among the Princeton Review's Top 10 Public Schools for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Studiesfor 12 consecutive years. Central to the design of our top-ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program is a belief in the transformative power of learning by doing. Led by world-class faculty who have an unwavering commitment to academic research and undergrad education and a passion for mentoring students, Miami prepares tomorrow's entrepreneurial leaders today. Our why? To unleash the entrepreneurial mindset and ignite students' imaginations about what's possible, so they can find the motivation to create more entrepreneurial value and elevate their impact on society. Three features distinguish our approach: 1. We are an interdisciplinary program that blends 3,100-plus students from 117 undergraduate majors across campus in classes taught by experienced entrepreneurs; 2. We apply a practice-based, immersive model of entrepreneurial learning that incorporates play, empathy, creation, experimentation and reflection, that has a 100% placement rate for internships and that allows students to solve real-world problems; and 3. We purposefully integrate our curricular and co-curricular programs with entrepreneurial ecosystem builders across the U.S. in ways that provide students the ability to network with hundreds of angel investors, venture capitalists, accelerator directors, founders, social impact entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders.
16. North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University
NC State Entrepreneurship
Raleigh, North Carolina
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 48
Tuition: $9,101 (in-state); $29,220 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 101
What Sets Us Apart
Inspired by the university teaching hospital model, the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic integrates research, teaching and real-world experience. It provides a place where faculty, students and entrepreneurs go to teach, learn and build the next generation of entrepreneurs. The NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic serves as a model that integrates disciplines across campus promoting an entrepreneurial mindset for all students. The Entrepreneurship Clinic engages students in experiential learning, embeds them in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and provides them the education and tools to execute on their own ideas. Operating this clinical model, NC State Entrepreneurship has created rigorous classes inside the entrepreneurship curriculum, as well as classes in traditional STEM curriculums. Providing students, a path to develop an entrepreneurial mindset without an extra burden of additional electives and/or semesters. NC State's entrepreneurship curriculum promotes critical thinking that allows students to either develop and launch their own concepts or become valuable team members and leaders in new ventures and larger organizations. In addition to this curriculum focus, NC State has created a research-focused lab for faculty and students to generate practical research for academia and entrepreneurs.
17. The University of Tampa
The University of Tampa
John P. Lowth Entrepreneurship Center
Tampa, Florida
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 10
Tuition: $29,792
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 300
What Sets Us Apart
In an educational environment, there is a healthy tension between formal knowledge acquisition in a classroom (curriculum) and practical experiences (co-curriculum). This is a system of learning that allows our undergraduate students to immerse themselves into theory and practice. Our highly engaging co-curriculum is mapped to our competency model, allowing our program to create a personalized curriculum based on their strengths and areas of learning opportunities. The co-curricular consists of the following: • Speaking Series by Entrepreneurs • International, National, and State Competitions • Intern Programs • Entrepreneur in Residence Programs • Entrepreneurial Shadowing Opportunities • Involvement in National Conferences.
For the entrepreneur in today's complex marketplace, it is no longer acceptable to be able to perform when things are going well. Successful entrepreneurs have to predict their performance requirements far ahead of the current market demands. Doing this requires a knowledge and level of experience gained through knowledge-based reflective processes that's solidified in meaningful activities. While entrepreneurship education at thousands of educational institutions have been attempting to produce companies, our focus has been on creating and building talent that, when mixed into an entrepreneurial ecosystem, establishes leaders, innovators and educators. Our programs are born out of research and are continuously defined through practice.
18. The University of Texas at Dallas
The University of Texas at Dallas
UTD Institute for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Richardson, Texas
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 20
Tuition: $13,442 (in-state); $38,168 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 334
What Sets Us Apart
1. Focus on experiential learning. All students in the undergraduate program are required to complete a practicum. All JSOM undergraduates are required to complete an internship and also perform 100 hours of nonprofit service, and our program has the only course (ENTP 4340) that satisfies this by having students work directly with local nonprofits on real-world problems. 2. Close partnering with the external business community, including hosting joint programs, scheduling regular drop-in hours for mentoring and hosting Startup Internship & Career Fairs. 3. The IIE hosts multiple outstanding events each semester. The Fall Women's Summit held during Women's Entrepreneurship Week (over 300 attendees), Spring 2020 Emerging Technologies Summit on Autonomous vehicles in April 2020 featured Co-Founder of Intel-Acquired MobilEye ($3 billion). 4. Continuous improvement reflected in growth in the number of participants in our Big Idea Competitions, our ability to build our ENTP courses into other degree programs across campus and receipt of multiple program awards as detailed in Q44 above. 5. The UTD incubator is building its third expansion. 6. Mechanical Engineering department formalized our business pitch course as a Preferred Elective for their degree, growing interest from other schools and departments to do same. 7. Our programs leverage five different sites across campus, maximizing the opportunity to engage students across all eight schools.
19. The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign
Technology Entrepreneurship Center (Engineering), Origin Ventures Academy of Entrepreneurial Leadership (Business)
Champaign, Illinois
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 111
Tuition: $15,868 (in-state); $31,988 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 251
What Sets Us Apart
The course form a pipeline from entrepreneurship and innovation discovery courses offered at the dormitory and freshmen experience through product development and ideation to participation in new team-based innovation and development, leading to participation in the new venture competition, proposals for grants for students and incubation at the research park. Broad-themed, inclusive experiences see participation of hundreds of student teams each year across a spectrum of experiences and development. The Midwest is different than other parts of the country, with large concentrations of venture capital or in large cities. As a result, campus is substantially more vibrant than our peers because we provide the resources, opportunities, mentoring and development — all within the university enterprise. The ecosystem is highly collaborative across the university, driven by a campus roundtable on entrepreneurship that meets monthly to make best use of the resources and find synergies across the campus as a whole. This approach to education prepares students for the opportunities that will be available to them as students and graduates in the Midwest, leading to many more boot-strapped, grant-based companies. While many such ecosystems mirror that of Silicon Valley or other metropolitan area-based ecosystems, ours prepares students who wish to engage in entrepreneurship and understand what it takes to grow into Chicago or other metropolitan areas around the country.
20. Belmont University
20 Belmont University
Belmont University Thomas F. Cone Sr. Center for Entrepreneurship
Nashville, Tennessee
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 29
Tuition: $32,820
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 162
What Sets Us Apart
The Belmont approach is to provide ETP students with a comprehensive ecosystem that creates hands-on, experiential learning opportunities and real-time entrepreneurial activities through the Hatchery & Accelerator, student-run businesses, clinics, speakers, mentorship and advising. Our faculty are actively engaged in the Nashville business community and have fostered a network of successful entrepreneurs who mentor our students. Students are connected to the resources in the city through partnerships (such as the Nashville EC, Social Enterprise Alliance and Nashville Tech Council). The remarkable rate of sustainability of our first-time entrepreneurs indicates that our program is preparing students to start and successfully nurture new businesses. Our on-campus, student-run businesses provide a unique real-life experience for students to actively run a small business before graduating. The Hatchery & Accelerator provide on-campus support to our student entrepreneurs. The spaces are designed to enhance ideation and provide basic business needs for developing a business plan; we offer guidance through clinics, workshops and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Students compete to join the Accelerator after launching a company. Weekly meetings, private work space, mentorship and one-on-one sessions with experts provide a unique opportunity to grow their businesses. Whether a student is starting with an idea or actively growing their business, we have the tools to guide them to success.
21. University of Washington
21 University of Washington
Arthur W. Buerk Center for Entrepreneurship
Seattle, Washington
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 42
Tuition: $11,465 (in-state); $38,166 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 280
What Sets Us Apart
We Grow Entrepreneurs. Throughout more than 150 years of history, UW has demonstrated an extraordinary track record of inventions and discoveries with impact across the globe. In 2019 alone, UW drove $15.7 billion in economic activity for the region and is consistently ranked the most innovative public university in the world. UW entrepreneurship education and programming works in symbiosis with Seattle — one of the top startup ecosystems in the world. This focus includes dedicated initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion. UW features the Undergraduate Young Executives of Color Program (YEOC), a six-week end of summer "Business Bridge" program, as well as a women's Leadership Summit. Undergrad students also created or played lead-managing roles in the creation of student entre organizations, including Startup UW, DubHacks, HuskyTech, the China Entrepreneur Network and the Science & Engineering Business Association. Students are given the access and opportunity to participate in programs from global leaders such as Amazon Catalyst and Microsoft's Global Social Entrepreneurship program. UW features a unique Accelerator experience compared to peer schools. The Jones + Foster Accelerator isn't an academic experience — it's a six-month program for student teams ready to become early stage startups. The program connects teams directly with investors, entrepreneurs and more. Since 2010, more than 85% of those who received funding from the Accelerator are still in business today.
22. Loyola Marymount University
22 Loyola Marymount University
Fred Kiesner Center for Entrepreneurship
Los Angeles, California
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 22
Tuition: $50,283
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 75
What Sets Us Apart
Mission-Driven Approach: We work feverishly to help our students become successful entrepreneurs and to fulfill our mission- to advance knowledge and develop business leaders with moral courage and creative confidence to be a force for good in the global community. The most important thing we do is instill the entrepreneurial spirit so that students believe in their power and capabilities to solve problems.
Business as a Force for Good: We dedicate ourselves to developing ethical leaders who demonstrate moral courage and create value in our world. Ethical citizenship encompasses corporate social responsibility, including economic, social and environmental responsibility. We develop a playground for the mind and a place to inspire the imagination promoting innovative solutions to business and societal challenges.
Interconnected Global Community of Lifelong Learners: We embrace many disciplines and community connectedness to inform problems and address challenges in our world. We perceive ourselves as a community of interdependent teachers and learners as co-creators of knowledge. We envision business as a force for good, best addressed with empathy, collaboration and an entrepreneurial mindset.
Educating the Whole Person: As an institution rooted in Jesuit and Marymount values, we take action to work as allies for social justice. We aspire to develop all dimensions of the person — emotional, spiritual, physical and social.
23. The University of Oklahoma
23 The University of Oklahoma
Tom Love Center for Entrepreneurship
Norman, Oklahoma
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 36
Tuition: $11,763 (in-state); $27,144 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 50
What Sets Us Apart
The undergraduate entrepreneurship program at OU is one of the few in the nation that explicitly links entrepreneurship and economic development. Along with educational initiatives that promote and support entrepreneurial launch, the Tom Love Division of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development focuses on business development, ownership and job creation. The Tom Love Center for Entrepreneurship, the Irani Center for the Creation of Economic Wealth and the Tom Love Innovation Hub support a wide variety of entrepreneurship and economic development endeavors. We also have programs aimed at extending the runway beyond graduation through coaching, incubating, funding and the award-winning OK Catalyst SBIR/STTR training program. The pedagogy places a strong emphasis on experiential learning consistent with the latest principles of lean startup and design thinking. Students learn to pitch ideas, develop hypotheses, collect data, build prototypes, iterate and pivot as much as may be needed to develop strong viable business concepts, then showcase their ideas to the OU community through our Entrepreneurship EXPO. Regardless of prior experience or field of study, entrepreneurship and economic development students can thrive at OU.
24. The University of Texas at Austin
#24 The University of Texas at Austin
Institute for Undergraduate Entrepreneurial Studies
Austin, TX
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 51
Tuition: $10,824 (in-state); $38,326 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: NR
What Sets Us Apart
The University of Texas at Austin (UT) offers an exciting range of resources for students across the 40 acres to become a part of the entrepreneurship community. We have powerful institutions working together including the Entrepreneurship Minor housed within the McCombs Business School where students can take 5 classes with their specialized major and learn how to utilize their area of interest, collaborate with peers across various disciplines and innovate within their communities.The Herb Kelleher Center offers more thank 20 high profile entrepreneurship mentors through their Entrepreneur-In-Residence and pre-accelerator programs. Our brand new Kendra Scott Institute is focused on growing female entrepreneurship across campus with female led entrepreneurship faculty and mentors. The Blackstone Launchpad provides the largest undergraduate startup coworking space on campus within the School of Undergraduate Studies. The 40 acres is conveniently located in one of the fastest growing Technology Startup cities in the nation. Undergraduate students have immense access to startup internships, investors, mentors and customers. Lastly, undergraduate students have access to a strong alumni network across the state of Texas where they can use their entrepreneurial knowledge to pursue a career in consulting, new product development, technology commercialization, corporate innovation, product management, event management, strategy, and business development.
25. Virginia Tech
25 Virginia Tech
Apex Center for Entrepreneurs
Blacksburg, Virginia
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 30
Tuition: $13,691 (in-state); $32,231 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 225
What Sets Us Apart
The interdisciplinary approach and culture created around entrepreneurship at Virginia Tech has made for a comprehensive set of programs for students at each stage of the entrepreneurial journey. Our portfolio of programs is interdisciplinary and provides any Hokie, from any major and any year, the opportunity to engage in all phases of the entrepreneurship and innovation process, and encourages alumni to interface with the next generations of entrepreneurs. Our approach at VT brings together successful alumni-entrepreneurs and investors to work with our students to help advance their ideas and products to the marketplace. We engage our alums and industry leaders through our Entrepreneur in Residence program, Visiting Entrepreneur program, mentorship, judging, guest speaking, members of our angel-investment network and more. We believe great companies can start and scale anywhere, aided by the fact that startups in emerging venture communities are often more capital efficient, offer a lower cost of doing business and attract talent looking for better quality of life. Our geographic and sector diverse approach means we work with student entrepreneurs from all over the country who chose Virginia Tech because of our fantastic programs.
26. The University of Iowa
26 The University of Iowa
John Pappajohn Entrepreneurial Center (Iowa JPEC)
Iowa City, Iowa
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 26
Tuition: $9,606 (in-state); $31,569 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 372
What Sets Us Apart
Iowa JPEC believes all undergraduate students should have access to a comprehensive study of entrepreneurship and innovation. We offer multiple interdisciplinary undergraduate academic programs (two majors and four certificates) designed to teach the entrepreneurial mindset and to develop the key technical and leadership skills necessary for students to pursue entrepreneurship as their career or to become an entrepreneurial leader within an existing organization. Every semester, students from more than 90 different majors collaborate to identify problems and craft innovative solutions to positively impact society. Iowa students are required to be active learners — applying their knowledge by launching new ventures, completing strategic business consulting projects for Iowa businesses, and supporting social enterprises and global businesses. Beyond the traditional entrepreneurship curriculum, Iowa students are exposed to courses in leadership, diversity, professional communications, technology and sustainability. Iowa JPEC also offers a broad scope of campus-wide co-curricular programs including ideation events, startup weekends, new venture competitions, summer student accelerator, clubs and organizations, mentoring programs, speaker series and networking events. This breadth of programming is designed to develop entrepreneurial leaders prepared to pursue their dreams and impact the world. Entrepreneurship at Iowa — campus-wide, experiential, innovative and impactful.
27. Texas Christian University
27 Texas Christian University
TCU Neeley Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fort Worth, Texas
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 39
Tuition: $49,250
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 48
What Sets Us Apart
We make the effort to ensure all students are led on a personal journey to identify, expand and integrate their talents and core virtues into the creation of value. Our courses, field experiences, assessment tools, individual and team exercises and hands-on projects make up a systematic, strengths-based approach that allows students to identify their talents and virtues, and apply them synergistically to develop entrepreneurial strength that maximizes their potential in terms of both career and overall wellbeing. We focus on supporting entrepreneurship across the University. We transitioned our business student-focused entrepreneurship center into a campus-wide institute for entrepreneurship. We launched a minor allowing non-business students to take courses side-by-side with entrepreneurship majors. We are seeing tremendous synergies gained by combining business and non-business students. Some of our students, most serious about launching new ventures, come from outside the business school. A final area of distinction is our teacher-scholar model. We ranked #13 in the 2019 World Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings. Our faculty leverage both scientific evidence and practical knowledge from prior start-up experiences to provide fresh and uniquely informed insights. Between our blend of faculty and an array of both business school and cross-campus offerings, we believe that we are one of the most well-balanced entrepreneurship programs in the world.
28. Ball State University
28 Ball State University
The Entrepreneurship Center, Miller College of Business
Muncie, Indiana
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 19
Tuition: $9,594 (in-state); $25,368 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 93
What Sets Us Apart
What makes us distinctive is E-Day (aka Evaluation Day). At the end of your last semester as a senior, all students will attempt to conquer E-Day by traveling to Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis and presenting their final business plan to a panel of alumni entrepreneurs waiting on the top floor of a skyscraper. The panel has reviewed each student's plans in advance and, following their presentation, challenges them with up to an hour of questions. If your plan receives the stamp of approval, you receive an "A" for the class and continue to graduation two weeks later. If your plan is rejected, you fail the class, and you do not graduate. This is one of the most intense experiences of any undergraduate program in the nation. E-Day is the final presentation of your business plan for the New Venture Creation course. Nationally recognized as the ultimate entrepreneurial experience, our New Venture Creation course gives you the chance to feel the entrepreneurial pressure. Entrepreneurs in the real world put everything on the line in order to be successful, so you do the same with a valuable milestone — your graduation. Are you ready?
29. Florida Gulf Coast University
29 Florida Gulf Coast University
Institute for Entrepreneurship
Fort Myers, Florida
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 43
Tuition: $6,170 (in-state); $21,032 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 194
What Sets Us Apart
The FGCU Daveler and Kauanui School of Entrepreneurship (SOE) houses our degree programs,Co-Curricular Institute for Entrepreneurship. It is completely independent of the College of Business. This independence allows SOE to partner with other departments and faculty from across the University to provide students interdisciplinary degrees &andcertificates that will help them succeed in the multi-faceted world of entrepreneurship. SOE programs aim to instill an entrepreneurial mindset founded on lean startup methods through practice. SOE students take courses in their field of interest (arts, health, engineering, science, etc.) along with a core of Entrepreneurship (ENT) courses, which count towards the ENT major. Through our University-wide ENT Faculty Fellows, students learn to develop value-adding and economically sustainable businesses. Students are provided a strong frame of reference for starting and scaling a business, or working in a family business, using current texts and curriculum. ENT faculty spend a minimum of five hours a week working with students in our incubator to remain student-centered and current. Our programs and courses match students with mentors from a pool of more than 50 community members who are skilled in different areas of ENT. Community members and foundations provide donations for our student businesses through competitions. Our ENT graduates are the foundation upon which we grow our entrepreneurial ecosystem in the SWFL region and beyond.
30. University of Kansas
30 University of Kansas
KU Center for Entrepreneurship
Lawrence, Kansas
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 24
Tuition: $11,166 (in-state); $28,034 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 90
What Sets Us Apart
We teach leading-edge entrepreneurial concepts (e.g. lean startup), and each student in each class must produce a commercialization plan for their own new venture, enabling them to launch their businesses post-graduation. KU students who lack the curriculum flexibility can participate in Startup School @ KU evening seminar series provided by the Center and successful KU alums to explore and develop their own new ventures without conflicting with their student schedule. All KU students can participate in The Catalyst, KU's student new-business incubator with a myriad of attendant resources. And advanced entrepreneurship students can receive paid entrepreneurial internships to apply their in-class learnings and assume startup ownership post-graduation.
31. Syracuse University
31. Syracuse University
Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship
Syracuse, NY
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 28
Tuition: $55,926
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 158
What Sets Us Apart
1. Cross-campus commitment
Entrepreneurship is an academic signature of Syracuse University. It is at the core of the programs at multiple schools on campus.This cross-campus commitment to entrepreneurship results in many student ventures starting and growing every year, thousands of students enrolled in entrepreneurship courses, many full-time faculty involved in programming, and dozens of community-based experiential opportunities. The SU Chancellor has set aside a $100M investment in scholarships, and entrepreneurship is central to that. We also launched a centralized incubator and resource center (Blackstone Launchpad) to provide additional help across campus and we have hired four new faculty in the past four years, with more on the way.
2. Military involvement
We work with thousands of military veterans per year, helping to manage their transition to civilian life. We've worked with more than 120,000 military veteran entrepreneurs over the past few years and have been acknowledged for this at the highest levels of government and private industry. The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities has been in existence since 2007 and is now offered at 10 universities in the United States and has inspired similar programs in other countries. Many of our graduate students are military veterans.
32. DePaul University
32. DePaul University
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center
Chicago, IL
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 38
Tuition: $41,202
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 104
What Sets Us Apart
DePaul was one of the earliest founders of entrepreneurship education in the US with the first entrepreneurship course offered in 1971. We now offer a combined Bachelor's and Master's degree in Entrepreneurship (4+1) and recently launched our BS Major in entrepreneurship and Minors in entrepreneurship for business students and non-business students. Fortune Small Business magazine ranked our innovation programming among the "top ten innovative programs for business owners." The entrepreneurship program collaborates with DePaul's CDM College, one of the largest computer science schools in the nation, for joint programming-technology commercialization. Partners in the entrepreneur ecosystem in Chicago include the 1871 tech incubator, 2112 music/film incubator, Blue1647 tech incubator, and individual members at mHub maker-space. The Coleman Fellows, 100-member Campus Advisory Team from across the university, and 50 CEC Mentors implement entrepreneurship education across all DePaul colleges. Student entrepreneurship organizations include CEO. The CEC's Startup Internship Program pays DePaul students to work in startups over a summer. Our spring business plan competition, The Purpose Pitch, focuses on the cause behind forming business and strength of purpose beyond just making money. Over 40 student/alumni teams applied and the final six teams presented to over 300 people. DePaul and the CEC, along with IIT hosted the 2018 GCEC Conference in Chicago and is a leadership school member.
33. University of St. Thomas
33. University of St. Thomas
Schulze School of Entrepreneurship
St. Paul, MN
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 37
Tuition: $46,956
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 58
What Sets Us Apart
Entrepreneurial thinking and innovation for the common good are core values at St. Thomas. At the Schulze School, we challenge our students to find problems that matter to them and to use their entrepreneurial skills to create positive change in the world. Linking entrepreneurship to the common good drives personal discovery and purpose, proactive problem-solving and values-based action that we believe creates a different kind of entrepreneur – one with a clearer sense of ethical responsibility and stewardship, along with entrepreneurial creativity, commitment and resilience. With this foundation, our students are equipped to make an impact, whether in their own startup, a social venture or an established organization seeking to innovate. Our core course is so successful at integrating entrepreneurial action with a focus on the common good that we have been selected to participate in St. Thomas' new First Year Experience on Changemaking, open to all incoming Freshman across the university. We are seen as a leader and formed a partnership with Stanford and Duke, creating a podcast, webinars and convenings for entrepreneurial educators interested in infusing more ethics into their entrepreneurship programming. Examples of this programming include a cover article by VentureWell, and participation in MIT's Antifragile Entrepreneurship Speaker series and the GCEC Virtual Connections Webinar Series: Ethics in Entrepreneurship Education.
34. Saint Louis University
34. Saint Louis University
Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship
St. Louis, MO
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 84
Tuition: $47,124
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 69
What Sets Us Apart
Keeping with our Jesuit roots ("Men and women for and with others") and Princeton Review's #2 ranked school for service, we teach how create social and non-profit ventures as well as for-profit ones, and to help others do this as well as how to pursue entrepreneurship for yourself. To make entrepreneurship education available to undergraduate students who might want this for their futures, we have grown it far beyond the business school, delivering the education and experiential training where they are academically based, to prepare them for the entrepreneurial roles they will pursue in their professional careers. This means teaching students not only in business, but also in 17 other departments about how to identify opportunities and launch startups. Our network of 80+ faculty across the campus collaborate to connect students to an extensive set of resources on campus (instructors, mentors, advisors, competitions, clinics, labs, centers, coworking spaces, shared-use kitchens, maker spaces, accelerators, etc.) as well as locally off-campus (in one of the top-10 startup cities is the USA – with all that implies) to help students achieve their goals and dreams. We connect students nationally through programs like our MedLaunch Medical Accelerator, the SXSW Student Startup Madness and our own HALO-ranked Billiken Angels Network to help them access funding and expertise nationally.
35. Texas A&M University - College Station
35. Texas A&M University - College Station
McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship
College Station, TX
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 31
Tuition: $11,231 (in-state); $37,725 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 37
What Sets Us Apart
Our approach to undergraduate entrepreneurship education is unique in that it focuses on real-world experiential opportunities. All of our programs are extracurricular so we minimize traditional instruction and instead use a flipped classroom to educate them on "lean startup" and other business principles. We then create an environment in which the students are exposed to different trends and opportunities in entrepreneurship and those with ideas, can gather data to evaluate customer and market needs. Our environment encourages creativity, the exchange of ideas/talent, and multi/cross-disciplinary collaboration amongst the students. Peer feedback and leadership are also integral to our programs, and we leverage an extensive mentor network that enables students to seek feedback and learn from the experience of other entrepreneurs, business professionals, and entrepreneurial faculty and staff at Texas A&M. At our Center, students are encouraged to learn but are also provided with the ability to earn access to advanced programs and resources (including financial support) that can help them launch their own companies. With this approach, we are able to focus resources that support the diverse needs of the entrepreneurial students on campus, ranging from those without ideas who want to use their skills to help others to those who are already running a business or participating in other college- or topically-focused entrepreneurship programs.
36. Penn State University
36. Penn State University
Invent Penn State
State College, PA
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 33
Tuition: $18,450 (in-state); $35,514 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 224
What Sets Us Apart
The breadth of undergraduate education offerings is very unique at Penn State. With 10 tracks in the ENTI minor, there is an entrepreneurship focus for every student. We offer tracks in food and bio-innovation, biotech, hospitality, engineering, social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship as advocacy, media entrepreneurship, digital innovation, art and architecture, new ventures. Course offerings work to incorporate creation tools like the Adobe Creative Suite, Website development, and other content creation like podcasting into the course assignments. Building on the base of synthesizing things, leading by creating is highly encouraged. Several campuses have deep experiential learning opportunities, such as the Sheetz Fellows and Graham Fellows programs at Penn State Altoona and Penn State York. We encourage our students to be entrepreneurial in all aspects of their personal and professional lives. If we can teach students to think like entrepreneurs, they will be successful no matter what endeavor they pursue.
37. Florida Atlantic University
37. Florida Atlantic University
Adams Center for Entrepreneurship
Boca Raton, FL
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 12
Tuition: $5,986 (in-state); $21,543 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 117
What Sets Us Apart
Our distinctive approach to entrepreneurship education consists of initial primary research (FAU Wave program), a dozen entrepreneurship courses, and educational and financial resources and support provided by the Adams Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center provides a boot camp, professional mentorship, global entrepreneurship week activities, networking organizations, pitch competition, veterans' entrepreneurship program, business plan competition and support for numerous external competitions. Our graduates grow their ventures through FAU's Accelerator (Tech Runway), and receive full operational support from FAU Research Park. In combination, these university wide programs provide comprehensive support to all undergraduate entrepreneurs at FAU whether they are in business, engineering, computer science, the Honors College, physical science, liberal arts, education or other programs.
38. University of Dayton
38. University of Dayton
L. William Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
Dayton, OH
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 35
Tuition: $44,100
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 133
What Sets Us Apart
We believe in entrepreneurship for the common good that is rooted in the community and committed to social justice. UD students don't just watch from the sidelines; they are immersed in the process. Our students leverage the entrepreneurial mindset to create profitable ventures and take on initiatives that will have a positive impact on the community. They provide loans and support to entrepreneurs in one of the most impoverished communities in Nairobi, Kenya; they leverage their business skills to support non-profit organizations and community initiatives through business consulting; and they serve underrepresented entrepreneurs with funding, mentoring and community connections. This university-wide commitment to leveraging entrepreneurship for the common good can be seen in the university's 10-year, $12 million investment to create a hub for the region's startup ecosystem, where entrepreneurs, investors, collaborators and students work together and support each other to move ideas forward. This commitment is also evident in the creation of the Greater West Dayton Incubator, a university-funded community initiative to support women and entrepreneurs of color through a neighborhood space that provides a pathway into a broader network of resources to support their startups and ongoing ventures. At UD we don't just teach students how to create profitable ventures. We teach them how to leverage those skills to help build community and create positive change where their support is needed most.
39. Temple University
39. Temple University
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute
Philadelphia, PA
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 35
Tuition: $16,970 (in-state); $29,882 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 47
What Sets Us Apart
1) Innovation and E-ship
Innovation and e-ship are two sides of the same coin. TU's university-wide programming balances perspective shifts and entrepreneurial mindset to recognize opportunities and develop differentiated, innovation-based, purpose-focused, value-creating business models with the practical skills and behaviors that help students fund and launch ventures or implement their vision in existing organizations.
2) Integrated, Relevant, Experiential
Our academic and co-curricular programs are strategically integrated and focus on experiential learning/launching. We say "Don't come to TU to learn about E-ship, come to TU to launch your venture!" The best time to launch a venture is as a student since learning is enhanced by application (testing ideas/launching ventures).
3) E-ship is Threaded into TU's DNA
We leverage GenEd courses (e.g., core CLA\ Intellectual Heritage courses teach creativity and social e-ship, Environment science/tech GenEd use field trips to sustainable e-ship ventures) and transform core curriculum in schools & colleges (e.g, 8 BFA degrees include e-ship, engineering capstone courses include tech comm and Lean Startup, Innovation/E-ship concentrations are largest in the MBA).
4) E-ship Academy
TUEA is a novel approach to training faculty and funding/co-developing new courses and programs which is transforming TU. TUEA created specialized programs in Freelancing, Urban Healthcare, Sports Innovation, Entrep. Engineering, Social E-ship, Product Dev, Licensing, and Retail, etc.
40. Florida State University
40. Florida State University
Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship
Tallahassee, FL
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 50
Tuition: $6,517 (in-state); $21,683 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 26
What Sets Us Apart
The approach we utilize in the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship is based on the exuberant nature of the students we select for entry into the program. The process we utilize to select students involves their completing an application and writing a two page essay as to why they wish to be a part of our program. Every student applicant gives us a brief outline of what they have done entrepreneurially during their lifetimes, and then explains why they wish to be a part of our program. Each of these applications and essays are perused by a committee of five to seven of our full-time faculty members. Through the years this process and the resulting students have taught us that the major characteristic we're searching for is "passion." GPAs are important, but passion has emerged as one of the most important applicant traits. We have discovered that some of our best students are those that ran lemonade stands as kids, or mowed their neighbor's yards, or did any type of work that would earn them a few dollars. Our approach to multidisciplinary collaboration sets it apart from programs around the country. The JMC serves as a melting pot for entrepreneurs from across our institutions' disciplines gathering faculty expertise from across the campus. Another example of uniqueness is FSU's Innovation Hub, supported by the JMC, which provides the tools necessary for our student entrepreneurs to build out their products in a Virtual Reality Lab and Hackerspace.
41. University of Delaware
41. University of Delaware
Horn Entrepreneurship Venture Development Center
Newark, DE
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 32
Tuition: $14,280 (in-state); $35,710 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 44
What Sets Us Apart
Horn Entrepreneurship was founded in 2012 with the central aim of empowering all University of Delaware students through entrepreneurship education. Horn's degree programs, courses and co-curricular offerings draw enrollment/participation from 1,500+ students representing 90+ majors and all seven colleges. Our distinctive approach involves combining the following elements:
(1) Personalized experience
Students develop personal working relationships with Horn faculty and staff who aim to do everything possible to support their pursuits. They also make connections with the many business leaders, alumni and community members who serve as speakers, mentors, instructors, and judges in our courses and co-curricular programs.
(2) Dynamic, holistic curriculum
Horn courses utilize experiential learning and incorporate evidence-based best practices to help students develop their skillsets, entrepreneurial capacities and connections.
(3) Robust enrichment and venture support
Students benefit from extensive enrichment programming, including professional development and internship opportunities. Horn also provides mentorship, resources and funding to support students' social and business ventures.
(4) Lifelong support
Entrepreneurship students and alumni are members of a lifelong community of innovators and entrepreneurs. Horn provides educational opportunities, mentorship and venture support prior to matriculation into the University of Delaware and beyond graduation.
42. Purdue University
42. Purdue University
Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship
West Lafayette, IN
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 52
Tuition: $9,992 (in-state); $28,794 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 60
What Sets Us Apart
Started in 2005, Purdue's Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation is one of the largest, multidisciplinary entrepreneurship programs in the country. It's the primary vehicle for delivering entrepreneurship education throughout the campus. Distinctive features include:
(1) Small classes sizes, despite its size and scale.
(2) Project-based focus and interaction of student teams.
(3) Capstone Courses tailored to different career paths, e.g., students can choose from courses focused on a) short-term business planning; b) consulting for small business; or c) planning for an entrepreneurial career.
4) It's growth is driven by entrepreneurship education evaluation data & scholarship: Dr. Nathalie Duval-Couetil, is a leading scholar in entrepreneurship education, who has taken a data-driven approach to program development that has involved collecting pre- and post-program data from thousands of entrepreneurship students for over a decade. This includes publishing on topics such as the assessment of entrepreneurship education, STEM and entrepreneurship, gender and entrepreneurship; technology commercialization, and student IP policy.
(5) It was one of the first university entrepreneurship programs in the country to be administered centrally by an Office of the Provost.
(6) The program provides access to award-winning business incubation and startup activities of Purdue Research Foundation and Purdue Research Park.
43. New Jersey Institute of Technology
43. New Jersey Institute of Technology
Martin Tuchman School of Management
Newark, NJ
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 21
Tuition: $17,674 (in-state); $33,386 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 8
What Sets Us Apart: NJIT's distinguished STEM-based entrepreneurship program builds upon three unique resources offered to students. First, NJIT hosts VentureLink, the largest new venture incubator in New Jersey, with 90 companies, $156 million per year in third-party funding and $67 million per year in revenue. Entrepreneurship students work in this ecosystem and establish startups there. Second, NJIT is a site for the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program, which promotes and funds entrepreneurship among university students and faculty. Third, NJIT hosts the largest and best-equipped maker space in New Jersey, with student-centered intellectual property rights.
44. Boston University
44. Boston University
Questrom School of Business, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Concentration
Boston, MA
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 24
Tuition: $55,892
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 16
What Sets Us Apart
A key attribute of our entrepreneurship programs is driven by Boston University's "One BU" mission, which embraces our belief that entrepreneurship applies to a wide variety of disciplines. Through this mission, we actively engage and intermix students from across the University in entrepreneurial classes and activities. At the heart of this is the newly created minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) minor, will enable students pursuing any undergraduate major from all BU schools and colleges to develop their ideas, regardless of their field of expertise, and create tangible economic or social impact. This minor is not just for those who want to "launch a startup" but for students who want to learn how to be more entrepreneurial in all aspects of their lives. The minor teaches students a set of life skills including identifying unmet needs and new opportunities, leading creativity and ideation, collaboration, prototyping and testing which can prepare students' for careers in many domains.The minor is developed with a "thin core" allowing great flexibility for students as they choose their classes. The core class is a newly developed course called Ideas2Impact. After this class students pick four electives from a choice of over 40 courses, allowing students to study the "flavor" of entrepreneurship that suits their interests.
45. Kettering University
45. Kettering University
School of Management
Flint, MI
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 5
Tuition: $44,380
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 75
What Sets Us Apart
Focus on Social and Tech Entrepreneurship within a STEM environment. The T-Space is Kettering's makerspace, operating with the goal of being a space where students can think, tinker, and thrive. This allows students to grow with their personal and school projects. It currently provides students access to 3D printing, laser cutting, soldering, and other utilities to work on small electric and mechanical projects.
Innovation Quest: The event is organized weekly and the idea is to compete in an hour-long challenge to create a simple machine or device that accomplishes the designated task. The event has gained much popularity around campus and the participation is high. While the event is more geared towards Innovation than Entrepreneurship, the idea is to appeal to the creativity in students.
Kettering Impact: The event is organized once a term and it currently offers a $1000 first price to the student or group of students that can come up with an idea to improve Kettering University and eventually use this to start a venture of their own. The students are made to create a four minute video that entails their idea and the basic need for it along with other important details. The event is usually judged by members of the college administration along with other budding student entrepreneurs.
46. University of Connecticut
University of Connecticut
Peter J. Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Storrs, Connecticut
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 20
Tuition: $17,226 (in-state); $39,894 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 41
What Sets Us Apart
Our unique and distinctive approach is tied to inclusiveness. Entrepreneurship classes and community have become a place where we are extremely inclusive of different majors, goals, social/high growth/small/family business, race, gender, under/upperclassmen and other aspects of the students participatory experience. In entrepreneurship we see significant barriers to inclusiveness. Silicon Valley has become a tech bro culture to the extreme, despite San Francisco's long history of diversity. Our diversity is a result of inclusion. Our new program, the Werth Innovators, is where yearly 17 sophomore students get a small scholarship, exceptional mentoring, trips to New York City and Silicon Valley, and asked to volunteer at entrepreneurship programs or build new innovative programs. The students are affiliated with the Werth Institute for Entrepreneurship for their remaining time at UConn. The development of a $500k student venture fund by these students is an example of this success. This unique approach, combined with our inclusion of entrepreneurship in the core honors program curriculum, leads us to focus on entrepreneurship earlier than many of our peer schools. We expect to see scaling demand for the courses and minors as these initiatives grow. Furthermore, student entrepreneurship and tech transfer/commercialization now report to a standing committee of the Board of Trustees, evidence of the support and priority at UConn.
47. East Carolina University
47. East Carolina University
Crisp Small Business Resource Center
Greenville, NC
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 19
Tuition: $7,188 (in-state); $23,465 (out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 63
What Sets Us Apart
The Miller School is committed to an experiential-based curriculum and co-curricular activities for students in our undergraduate degree and certificate programs. Multiple pathways are available in our BS Entrepreneurship degree and we serve students interested in business startup, family business, and/or corporate entrepreneurship. We focus our efforts on building an entrepreneurial mindset and skill-set in our students through highly engaged learning activities. During the 2019-20 academic year we worked with students from 26 different majors in our academic programs, and students from 50 majors participated in our competitions, including the Pirate Entrepreneurship Challenge. This signature competition has included almost 300 teams from across the campus since its inception in 2018, and provided more than $200k in cash and in-kind prizes. Various courses worked directly with regional business clients, and in 2019-20 they worked with 32 clients and accumulated approximately 12,800 hours of fieldwork. We have linked courses with other academic units, such as the connection between our New Venture Launch course and Rapid Prototyping and Biomedical Innovation in the College of Engineering and Technology. Our unique structure includes strategic linkages across campus and a multidisciplinary steering committee to help provide oversight. We also have regional advisory councils of distinguished entrepreneurs and business leaders who serve as dedicated mentors for our students.
48. Oklahoma State University
48. Oklahoma State University
Riata Center for Entrepreneurship Stillwater, OK
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 21
Tuition: $2,287 (in-state and out-of-state)
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 81
What Sets Us Apart
The School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University is a busy unit. We are one of eight departments in the Spears School of Business, with a faculty and staff devoted solely to entrepreneurship. We have growing undergraduate, masters, and PhD programs, a vibrant entrepreneurship center, and two student incubators. Our faculty is split evenly between traditional tenure track and professor of practice (all of whom have startup experience). Our program is funded via $75 million in permanent endowments along with university funding. The strength of our endowments is a testament to our alumni support. We have approximately 210 entrepreneurship majors and 100+ minors. This past year, 2,287 students took one or more entrepreneurship courses. Two years ago, the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology allowed their students to participate in the entrepreneurship minor. As a result, we are now seeing engineering students in many of our classes. Our class in our college's undergraduate core enrolls over 800 students per semester, which we believe is one of the largest concentrations of students taking an entrepreneurship class in the country. We offer our students many opportunities beyond the classroom including incubators, study abroad (when permitted), internships, workshops, clubs and competitions. In early 2018, our college moved into a new building, which features a 4,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art entrepreneurship center on the first floor.
49. Clarkson University
49. Clarkson University
Shipley Center for Innovation
Potsdam, NY
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 9
Tuition: $52,724
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 92
What Sets Us Apart
Our university has a technological background, which spills over to all other schools outside of engineering and makes the perfect melting pot for imparting lessons in innovation and entrepreneurship in a very holistic, interdisciplinary fashion in the school of business. The mix of students allows for a learning environment where the exchange of ideas is welcome and everyone learns to exploit each other's skills to the maximum. Our undergraduate courses in entrepreneurship cover all disciplines, from marketing to economics, with a very hands on approach from the very first day a student steps on campus. This allows our students to come out with a well-rounded background that paves a solid path to success in life.
50. University of Rochester
50. University of Rochester
University of Rochester Ain Center for Entrepreneurship
Rochester, NY
Number of Entrepreneurship Courses Offered: 51
Tuition: $56,030
Companies Started by Graduates Over the Last 5 Years: 53
What Sets Us Apart
The University of Rochester takes a holistic approach to entrepreneurship, encouraging both an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset across the variety of disciplines at the university. Bolstered by university-wide resources like the Ain Center for Entrepreneurship and centrally located innovation spaces like the Barbara J. Burger iZone, UR is able to support budding entrepreneurs across each of the distinct schools. Courses and programs are led by academics, trained industry professionals, and experienced businesspeople, ensuring a well-rounded and current take on entrepreneurship as a field of study and professional practice. Entrepreneurship is a flexible framework that can be applied to any interest area, and as such, our courses, events, and co-curricular offerings are open to all undergrads. UR also offers a wide range of unique opportunities to undergraduates, ranging from NSF I-Corps training and grant funding, to business formation workshops, to downtown incubator space. Further, we are the first University Center designated by the Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration in the region. This grant-funded programming allows our students to work with both rural and urban entrepreneurs to learn how ventures can differ based on factors such as location and community support.