Entrepreneurship is simpler than what we perceive it to be. It is summoned to be a significant skill that annexes great values to your soul, grooms you to combat unexpected difficulties, and uplifts your persona in society. A devoted entrepreneur seeks challenges, solves obstacles, and keeps reinventing themselves.
Therefore, adapting to that entrepreneurial mindset, the latest 2021 university rankings pertaining to a prolific entrepreneurial program that produces the maximum number of successful entrepreneurs in the USA are none other than the universities of Stanford, Harvard, Berkeley, MIT, and Pennsylvania. It’s no surprise that they are widely known for their eminent contribution to the start-up industry.
Stanford University
Stanford University grabs the top spot with 24 founders of start-ups, out of which 18 are unicorns. According to the annual data published by Pitchbook, Stanford University is the premier institution with about 1,178 graduates getting into business every year. Stanford University has an excellent workforce and an extensive network of successful graduates, with an acceptance rate of approximately 5%. The university offers extensive courses in a wide range of subjects that build entrepreneurial skills. The university supports a non-profit called StartX that is a start-up accelerator founded to protect and boost the start-up ecosystem.
The founders of Google, Yahoo, Gap, Nike, Instagram, and Hewlett-Packard, among many others, are Stanford alumni. And more recently, the founders of many unicorn start-ups like Workday, DoorDash and Affirm also went to Stanford.
Harvard University
With 15 unicorn startups that have a combined net worth of $6.7 billion, Harvard is a close second after Stanford when it comes to acing the entrepreneurial game. Every year, there are approximately 900 graduates who venture into their own business. The Business School of Harvard University focuses on the various entrepreneurial skills that one will need while running a company. This is done through loads of case studies, experiential learning methods, field studies, immersion trips, and guest speakers. Giants like Microsoft, Facebook, Citigroup, and Morgan-Stanley were founded by Harvard alumni. Great personalities like Michelle and Barack Obama, T.S Eliot, Yo-Yo Ma and Ruth Bader Ginsberg also hail from Harvard. More recently, successful young companies like Airbnb, Quora, Fitbit, Zynga and OkCupid are also founded by Harvard alumni.
University of California – Berkeley
UC Berkeley is another university that has always been keen on imparting entrepreneurial and practical skills that will make it easy for students who intend on running a business. They offer a wide range of courses across an array of subjects like finance, e-commerce, economics, manufacturing, operations, technology, supply chain, social sciences, etc., and include a hybrid teaching style for the courses that encompass lectures, case studies, practical application, and group discussions. The syllabus includes management and business skills along with the theoretical knowledge of the majoring subject.
71.70% of the graduates secure full-time employment. Berkeley generates 1,137 entrepreneurs each year, and the acceptance rate of the University of California at Berkeley is approximately 17%. Mozilla Corporation, My Space, and Coursera are a few of the many companies that have been founded by Berkeley alumni.
MIT
MIT has 9 founders whose start-ups have gained unicorn status. There are over 941 graduates every year who get into entrepreneurship. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a variety of courses that teach a blend of technology and business skills. With an annual tuition fee of $77,168, 79.30% of the graduating students bag full-time employment opportunities.
Famous new companies like Big Basket, Depict, Bevi, Embr, and Okta, among others, have founders whose alma mater is MIT.
University of Pennsylvania
At Penn, for leadership training, students can get hands-on experience in about 25 research centres on campus and have close to 150 organizations to get involved in. The tuition is an incredible $80,000 annually, but 81% of the graduates get absorbed by some of the biggest companies across industries. Because of the amazing blend of entrepreneurial training along with the core syllabus, almost 838 graduates venture into business every year. PayPal, WhatsApp, Snapdeal, SpaceX, and QVC are some of the companies founded by Pennsylvania alumni that have grown to be some big household names today.
Conclusion
The philosophy of the entrepreneurial mindset revolves around being armed with the willingness to work hard, circulating inspirational opinions, educating mankind, and most importantly, fighting to make a universal change in the world. One fundamental peculiarity about entrepreneurs is that they don’t get paralyzed by obstacles and are unafraid to take calculative risks. There’s a determination and a fire that helps them charge towards their goals, and very often, this ambition and effort lead to success. If you’re looking at pursuing a higher education in the USA that will help you gain entrepreneurial skills as well, you now know which universities to look up!
