Following is a ranking of the most entrepreneurial universities in the US. Ranked by Forbes in 2015, this list is based on the number of alumni and students who have identified themselves as founders and business owners on LinkedIn.
The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford is dedicated to creating a dynamic global community of innovative individuals who can lead outstanding success stories. The CES promotes research and entrepreneurial thinking through purpose-built courses and programs such as the Stanford Venture Studio and the Startup Garage. The program ‘Design for Extreme Affordability’ enables students to develop and design lifesaving technologies and apply them to poor communities.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship provides the students with expertise, support and the right kind of networking needed to become effective entrepreneurs. The center caters to all MIT students, no matter what their area of study may be. It collaborates with various departments within the university and connects students through practical and theoretical knowledge on developing innovative concepts.
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University of California, Berkeley
The Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology at UC, Berkeley, offers a huge variety of entrepreneurship courses at all levels. There are a few core courses along with approved Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship Electives. This includes the likes of Social Entrepreneurship and Technology, Leading People, Innovation and Entrepreneurship and so on. The Center is the ideal place for ‘technology-driven’ entrepreneurship and innovation.
Each school at Cornell University fosters the spirit of entrepreneurship. Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell fosters the most important aspects of entrepreneurship and innovation. It enables students to get unique knowledge, discover new opportunities and network intelligently. The annual Johnson Shark Tank gives students an opportunity to pitch their start-up ideas to venture capitalists. Students are also offered commercial and strategic consulting to help them bridge the initial gap between a business idea and company growth.
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University of California, Los Angeles
The Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation encourages students to bring out their creative side. It oversees teaching, research, extracurricular and community activities related to entrepreneurship at the UCLA Anderson School of Business. The center facilitates the creative minds of the students in both academics and extracurricular activities related to the theory and practice of entrepreneurship.
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California Institute of Technology
The Entrepreneurship Club at California Institute of Technology provides aspiring entrepreneurs with the right kind of contacts and opportunities to help them launch their creative ideas into markets. The club hosts business plan competitions, entrepreneurship boot camps and field trips to the Silicon Valley to give its student body a varied set of experiences in the world of entrepreneurship. It has close ties with other departments at the university, such as the Caltech Office of Technology Transfer, Caltech Career Development Center, and so on.
The Brown Entrepreneurship Program (BrownEP) is a student-run entrepreneurship center. The idea behind this program is to encourage education in resourcefulness, adaptability and innovation. It was founded in 1988, and has since facilitated a large number of activities with a strong, underlying spirit of entrepreneurship. Initiatives such as Startup@Brown, Synapse, Fireside Chats, EP Speaker Series, Hack the Party, Recruiting Events, Innovation Dojo and Brown Venture Fellowship are some of the entrepreneurship activities at Brown.
Home to the founders of Amazon, OMGPop, Twitter, Mint, SCVNGR, Artsy and Turntable, Princeton University is not new to the idea of innovation and creativity. The university has a separate council for entrepreneurship called the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council (PEC) which was established in July 2015. The main aim is to encourage the existing entrepreneurial programs and facilitate them in any means possible. In addition to its own staff, the Council also has members of the faculty from all four divisions of the university.
The Dartmouth Entrepreneurial Network (DEN) facilitates the entrepreneurial spirit among students, faculty, clinicians, researchers, staff, alumni and members of the entire Dartmouth community. It includes over 45,000 people and 14 chapter cities, numerous courses, a variety of workshops, competitions, speaker sessions and networking activities. The DEN is the central factor in the Dartmouth Office of Entrepreneurship and Technology Transfer and it offers students a wide variety of services such as mentoring, strategic advice, business plan consultation, infrastructure, office space and so on.
The Graziadio Business School has a rich entrepreneurial heritage at the Pepperdine University. Students here are exposed to ideas of pursuing innovation in academics and in extracurricular activities. There are various degrees offered here for aspiring entrepreneurs that help students translate their vision into a business reality. In addition, the university organizes a Business Plan Competition, where students divide themselves up in teams and present their unique ideas to venture capitalists. The university also publishes the LAUNCH! Magazine six times a year to keep the student body and other concerned parties updated with the entrepreneurial efforts at the university.
The wide scale promotion of entrepreneurial activities at the university level has helped this side of business grow tremendously over the last decade. These 10 universities are playing their part in changing the landscape of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship. If you happen to be looking for places to foster your imagination and inventiveness, this list might offer you the solution you are looking for.
