Texas A&M Among Top Universities Cited By Princeton Review For “Entrepreneurship Studies”

Texas A&M University is among the nation’s top institutions included in The Princeton Review’s 11th annual survey naming the 25 undergraduate and 25 graduate schools best for entrepreneurship studies for 2017, announced The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. Texas A&M is ranked 20th on the undergraduate list and 21st on the graduate list.

While several academic units of Texas A&M offer formalized programs and for-credit courses in entrepreneurship, including the College of Liberal Arts, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, its Mays Business School is in the forefront, with 900 students enrolled in entrepreneurship classes.

About 250 startups were launched by Mays graduates in the last five years.

Entrepreneurial thinking aligns with Mays Business School’s vision to develop transformational leaders who possess the qualities of an entrepreneur: responsible leaders with vision and strong business competencies who exemplify selfless service, and value diversity and inclusion.

The school has launched several initiatives related to entrepreneurship. The Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) is a hub of entrepreneurship for Texas A&M since 1999. The CNVE offers 16 undergraduate courses and certificate programs to undergraduate, graduate and PPA students interested in furthering their entrepreneurial education. The CNVE leads several initiatives, including:

• Startup Aggieland, a student-designed business incubator, accelerator and co-working space that helps startups leverage Texas A&M resources and private support without relinquishing equity ownership in their companies.
• Blackstone Launchpad Initiative, a program that provides a network of venture coaches and an entrepreneurial support system. Texas A&M joins The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas at Dallas in the three-year campus entrepreneurship program started with a $3 million grant.

Entrepreneurship is also an integral component of the new major at Mays, the Master of Science in Business, an 11-month program for graduates of non-business degrees. The participants in the class work in teams to research and launch businesses.

Business and industry, including various fields in engineering, are the areas that typically come first to mind when thinking of entrepreneurship, but Texas A&M’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (CVM), College of Liberal Arts, and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, among others, currently have programs related to such endeavors.

CVM, for example, has established the Veterinary Entrepreneurship Academy, a pilot program in which veterinary students have been placed in five startup companies in the animal health field. Additionally, it is supporting the creation of up to three veterinary student-led companies and has assembled a world-class team of industry advisors and professors to help guide the program.

In another endeavor, the CVM is supporting 21 veterinary student teams across 15 different veterinary colleges grow their ideas into viable products and services as part of “The Idea” Veterinary Innovation Competition. CVM is guiding the cohort through an online curriculum and workshop series that provides students with training in the lean startup methodology, with particular emphasis on its application in the veterinary field.

The College of Liberal Arts recently hired a leading entrepreneurial scholar, Patricia H. Thornton, to serve as professor of sociology and adjunct professor of management. Thornton’s appointment played an integral role in the college’s development of an emerging entrepreneurship minor for its students. In addition, the College of Liberal Arts partners with Mays’ Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship and Startup Aggieland, reinforcing the college’s focus on entrepreneurship education

In Texas A&M’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Agricultural Economics Department offers a minor in agribusiness entrepreneurship and classes  in “rural entrepreneurship.” In one course, the professor brings in business leaders every week from around the state and U.S. to pass along their lessons to students and to help grow their professional networks. It is one of the most popular courses within the department.

The entrepreneurial rankings were determined after The Princeton Review surveyed more than 300 colleges and universities to decide which best serve the entrepreneurial spirit. The methodology took into account a number of factors, including the entrepreneurship programs offered at the school, the number of entrepreneurship clubs and organizations available to students, if business plan competitions were held and the faculty’s experience in the startup world.