Future Outlook: Advice for a Junior Weighing Entrepreneurship

I'm currently a first semester Junior, getting ready for the recruiting process for summer internships. I'd been following WSO and WSJ for well over a year to prepare for the investment banks and other related jobs, but the recent meltdown has me reconsidering that path.

I've been toying with a start-up idea for a while now. If I choose to give up the traditional path of Banking/F500 CorpFin/Consulting, there are obviously many risks that it entails, not the least of which includes striking out on an unknown, probably unprofitable enterprise (for the first few years) that requires all the sweat and blood poured into banking, and then some.

On the other hand, I'd been reading MBAApply's post about being young and being able to take risks, and weighing that against my long-held view that banking was the end-all, be-all of jobs after college. I spoke to admissions staff at Wharton/MIT/Penn/Haas b-schools and they all said that entrepreneurship was looked upon as legitimate work experience, as long as it is quantified and responsibilities described well. I guess I'm thinking that b-school is a backup plan if this idea backfires. Perhaps not, but the instability of the current financial industry really worries me (who isn't worried by it?).

If this is the case, I would probably just take the summer to work on my idea (and perhaps study abroad at Oxford) instead of signing on for an internship. I would love to hear thoughts from bankers, entrepreneurs, and fellow college students in general about this decision. I appreciate any and all feedback.

Thanks.