Entrepreneurial Atmosphere?

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi, everyone, </p>

<p>What would be good colleges for a student who says he is looking for colleges with an "entrepreneurial atmosphere"? I think the basic idea is that he is looking for classmates who are more interested in starting new business ventures than in becoming employees of somebody else. Is that more a part of the culture of some colleges than others? </p>

<p>Other selection factors that may be important are </p>

<p>a) strong program in math, </p>

<p>b) strong program in computer science, </p>

<p>c) research university (including graduate-level courses on campus), </p>

<p>d) diverse campus in big city. </p>

<p>What colleges fit these criteria especially well?</p>

2

<p>Apply to any school with an undergrad business school.</p>

<p>University of Pennsylvania seems to fit your criteria pretty well.</p>

3

<p>Definitely look at Wisconsin-Madison, its a very well rounded school with a great business program, state school so theres a ton of diversity and its right near Madison, Wisconsin (duh).</p>

4

<p>tokenadult - I would look at Johnson and Wales University. I knew a family whose son went there - the son had started his own business in high school and felt that a typical university was not for him. </p>

<p><a href="http://www.usjournal.com/en/students/campuses/jwu.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usjournal.com/en/students/campuses/jwu.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>Oh I also forgot to mention UNC Chapel Hill. Its not in a big city (pretty near Raleigh though) but its an extremely diverse school with a great business program. Very entrepeneurial.</p>

6

<p>Is it possible to be an entrepreneur without majoring in business?</p>

7

<p>check out Babson</p>

8

<p>I would like to know that last question too.....</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
Is it possible to be an entrepreneur without majoring in business?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Are you serious? Of course it's possible to be an entrepreneur without a major in business. I doubt Business School (or even a Business Major) can teach you everything you need to be successful in business! If you have the spirit, I say GO FOR IT.</p>

<p>Oh and MIT and Stanford.</p>

<p>Maybe UMD (It has one of the nation's two live-in entrepreneur programs - I know I contradicted myself here. The other is Stanford)</p>

10

<p>
[quote]
MIT and Stanford

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's the kind of research university I'd especially like to get a reality check on.</p>

11

<p>Babson is an excellent choice. It's not a research university, but for prospective Entrepreneurs it's THE best school, bar none. The Business program offered is in line with some of the best undergraduate programs offered in the country. Especially Geared to entrepreneurs, Babson would fit you perfectly. While someone suggested Wharton, the number one Business school in the country, in terms of entrepreneurs it’s less then stellar. Hopes this helps.</p>

12

<p>I'll echo Babson. Easily the best choice for one with an entrepreneurial spirit.</p>

13

<p>I was very impressed with the entrepreneurial emphasis at Rensselaer, perhaps especially in their PDI program (Product Design Innovation). They actually have students designing and producing stuff and their r&d costs are paid for by major corporations.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.pdi.rpi.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pdi.rpi.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

14

<p>
[quote]
What would be good colleges for a student who says he is looking for colleges with an "entrepreneurial atmosphere"? I think the basic idea is that he is looking for classmates who are more interested in starting new business ventures than in becoming employees of somebody else. Is that more a part of the culture of some colleges than others?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Frankly speaking, I would say that if you want to just start a business, you should just start it straight away. I doubt that you even need to go to college. If you have the idea, if you have the passion, then you should just try to launch your business straight away. If it fails, oh well, you just go back to school. </p>

<p>It's no coincidence to me that some of the most successful entrepreneurs in history (Gates, Jobs, Ellison, Dell, etc.) are college dropouts. Here is what essayist and entrepreneur Paul Graham had to say about it:</p>

<p>*I can't imagine telling Bill Gates at 19 that he should wait till he graduated to start a company. He'd have told me to get lost. And could I have honestly claimed that he was harming his future-- that he was learning less by working at ground zero of the microcomputer revolution than he would have if he'd been taking classes back at Harvard? No, probably not.</p>

<p>And yes, while it is probably true that you'll learn some valuable things by going to work for an existing company for a couple years before starting your own, you'd learn a thing or two running your own company during that time too.</p>

<p>The advice about going to work for someone else would get an even colder reception from the 19 year old Bill Gates. So I'm supposed to finish college, then go work for another company for two years, and then I can start my own? I have to wait till I'm 23? That's four years. That's more than twenty percent of my life so far. Plus in four years it will be way too late to make money writing a Basic interpreter for the Altair.</p>

<p>And he'd be right. The Apple II was launched just two years later. In fact, if Bill had finished college and gone to work for another company as we're suggesting, he might well have gone to work for Apple. And while that would probably have been better for all of us, it wouldn't have been better for him.
*</p>

<p><a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.paulgraham.com/hiring.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

15

<p>Yes, Paul Graham follows up on some of those ideas in </p>

<p><a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html&lt;/a> </p>

<p>About Babson, what kind of businesses have been started by graduates of Babson?</p>

16

<p>Carnegie Mellon would be a perfect fit for you.</p>

17

<p>I'm thinking Penn as well. The campus seems to be perpetually covered in flyers for student startups.</p>

<p>there is also strong institutional support from places like Weiss Tech House and Wharton in general.</p>

18

<p>
[quote]
Yes, Paul Graham follows up on some of those ideas in </p>

<p><a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html&lt;/a>

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Exactly So I think you have your answer. If you want to be an entrepeneur, just do it. Frankly speaking, any college, not even Babson, is not really going to teach you as much about starting your own business as you would learn by actually starting your own business, even if it fails.</p>

19

<p>"About Babson, what kind of businesses have been started by graduates of Babson?"</p>

<p>Ernesto Bertarelli Serono</p>

<p>Matt Coffin Founder of LowerMyBills.com</p>

<p>Robert Davis: Founder of Lycos,</p>

<p>Stephen Spinelli, Jr.: Founder of Jiffy Lube</p>

<p>Daniel Gerber: Founder of Gerber Baby Foods</p>

<p>Robert Davis: Founder of Lycos</p>

<p>Arthur M. Blank: Co-Founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons</p>

<p>Robert Rosenberg Founded Dunkin Donuts</p>

<p>And many many more </p>

<p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babson_College%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babson_College&lt;/a> </p>

<p>Look at notable alumni.</p>

<p>wikipedia provides most successful and well known ones you can also find other information on Babson’s site <a href="http://www.babson.edu%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.babson.edu&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

20

<p>I think RPI has a special entrepreneur program.</p>