What is the Best Business School for Entrepreneurship?

Hey Guys,

So I hear a lot about what the "best" business school overall is on this board, but I was hoping you guys could help me figure out what some good business schools are in regards to entrepreneurship specifically. I know you don't have to get an MBA to start a company, but I do feel like it would be helpful, especially if things didn't pan out and I needed to find a good job in another business field.

Some ones that came to mind so far:

Harvard: probably the best business school brand. you say you're a graduate from there, and people will take you seriously. i think this can't be underestimated when starting a new venture.

MIT: probably the best entrepreneurship curriculum, and from looking at their website, the one that focuses the most on entrepreneurship out of the top schools

Stanford: great location (near silicon valley, a start-up hub)

Any others I should be looking at? What do you guys feel is the most important thing that I should be looking at?

 

I think Penn worked out for this one guy pretty well...he started some website forum or something I can't really remember

If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses - Henry Ford
 

I'd second Stanford, and throw in McCombs. I personally have no interest in entrepreneurship but a lot of students came to UT over other schools just for entrepreneurship. Austin is very Silicon Valley-light, and UT supports that with Texas Venture Labs and Venture Fellows programs. Especially the latter, if you get in, is a really bad ass program. I'd read more up on it via the Google. You're basically given an internship, during the school year, at a start-up, vc, or pe firm in Austin.

Certainly consider where you want to live post-grad as the network you build during school (which will be, by definition, local) will be most important for entrepreneurship. I think a lot of students fail to consider geography in school choice, which is a grave error.

 

well given all the support the entrepreneurial community gave me at wharton I think you should throw them in the ring as well.

check out VIP (venture initiation program), Wharton Venture Award, Wharton Biz Plan Competition, Entrepreneur in Residence program, etc etc. Also, Penn does have the advantage of being surrounded by brilliant, hard-working undergrads that are often willing to help.

I didn't work with any ugrads on WSO from Penn, but I know several guys in my MBA class that did, or started businesses coming out of Wharton. friend of mine started PayDivvy.com and I see bright things for them going forward.

All the schools you mentioned I am sure have great entrepreneurial programs though so I'm sure you cant go wrong.

Good luck, Patrick

 

@ Cartwright

I agree with you about the whole local network thing. Personally, I'm from Louisiana and I plan to return to the South at some point because I like it more than the Northeast (where i currently go to school) and California. Probably not Louisiana, but I'm looking at places like Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, etc.

reason i was considering schools in places i dont plan to stay long-term is because those seem more prestigious. does the extra prestige counteract the fact that your network is more national than local, and thus not as useful?

 
Best Response
peacerenity:
@ Cartwright

I agree with you about the whole local network thing. Personally, I'm from Louisiana and I plan to return to the South at some point because I like it more than the Northeast (where i currently go to school) and California. Probably not Louisiana, but I'm looking at places like Dallas, Houston, Tampa, Atlanta, Nashville, etc.

reason i was considering schools in places i dont plan to stay long-term is because those seem more prestigious. does the extra prestige counteract the fact that your network is more national than local, and thus not as useful?

No. In Texas, UT>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> just about anywhere besides Harvard, and even then it might be a toss-up. This becomes even more true at the entrepreneurship level (versus finance for example). It's true everywhere though. MIT is better in Boston than in LA, etc. When I was applying to b-school, I thought about a lot of schools, but i realized that I wanted to be in Texas long term and thus McCombs was the best bet. I would have thought differently if New York was my goal (still possible, just more leg work).

I personally don't think Austin is the lifestyle mecca everyone seems to believe, but it is undoubtedly entrepreneurial, educated, creative, etc etc etc.

 

@ Cartwright

If for some reason I didn't want to start a company right out of b-school, but wanted to work somewhere else for a bit to pay down my debt, build up capital, etc., do the traditional places still recruit at mccombs? more consulting than banking--i'm not really the i-banking type. or is it more regional businesses? for instance, in shreveport, where i'm from, all of the big money is from either energy (oil, natural gas) or casinos. and while those pay very well if you're at the top, they don't pay as well at the entry-level as consulting firms.

so mccombs is well-regarded in texas? reason i hadn't thought about it much until now is because i figured UT was like LSU is in louisiana. LSU is a popular school that everybody likes, watches the football games for, they probably went there or had a friend who went there, and think of it as a solid school. but nobody would be like "wow, this guy must be smart/capable, he went to LSU." whereas people do do that about harvard, even though it's not in the area. but for UT it's different?

 
peacerenity:
@ Cartwright

If for some reason I didn't want to start a company right out of b-school, but wanted to work somewhere else for a bit to pay down my debt, build up capital, etc., do the traditional places still recruit at mccombs? more consulting than banking--i'm not really the i-banking type. or is it more regional businesses? for instance, in shreveport, where i'm from, all of the big money is from either energy (oil, natural gas) or casinos. and while those pay very well if you're at the top, they don't pay as well at the entry-level as consulting firms.

so mccombs is well-regarded in texas? reason i hadn't thought about it much until now is because i figured UT was like LSU is in louisiana. LSU is a popular school that everybody likes, watches the football games for, they probably went there or had a friend who went there, and think of it as a solid school. but nobody would be like "wow, this guy must be smart/capable, he went to LSU." whereas people do do that about harvard, even though it's not in the area. but for UT it's different?

McCombs is more well regarded in Texas than almost everywhere less Harvard. And Stanford to some people. Is it possible to go to Tuck or Darden and get a job in Texas? Absolutely. But realize it will be at least 10x harder and the people you meet and network with and become friends with at school will most likely not be in Texas or the south.

McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Goldman, MS, JP Morgan, Greenhill, Evercore, all the big energy companies, and tons of other companies recruit at McCombs. Definitely not similar to LSU or schools like Ole Miss/Alabama. Much more comparable to UCLA, UVA, UNC, UMich, etc.

 

also, does anybody know a good site to find good student reviews of the business schools they went to? i figure rankings/official reviews are all well and good, but nothing beats somebody who actually went there saying "i really feel that Business School X was a great experience, and here's why. here's what i loved and what i feel could use improvement."

 

That poets and quants is about as legitimate as businessweek rankings (read: not)...shocking since the creator came from there.

@peacerenity...i don't really know what to say to that. LSU? Really? Do they even have a business school?

UT is 16th in latest US News rankings and I would say is in the same echelon as uva, ross, ysom, ucla, etc. (e.g. behind the top 6-7, but next tier). Call me when McKinsey and every IB start recruiting at LSU.

Do your homework.

 

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