Top colleges for Entrepreneurship 2016; can entrepreneurship really be taught in school?

[Xennial]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2015/11/10/the-top-50-schools-for-entrepreneurs-2/

Babson is #1 school again.  The question is do these colleges really develop good entrepreneurs.  It seems to be something you can't really learn in a classroom setting and more so through experience of doing it yourself.  What are some opinions here?

 

[yogurt]

No.

Unless you're learning a trade, what you learn in school won't be used for the career. You're in school to learn how to learn. An engineering student will never have the perfectly structured problem sets where gravity and wind resistance are negligible in real life, but he will know how to break a problem down and tackle the individual pieces.

Learning entrepreneurship in a classroom sounds like learning warfare and combat in a classroom.

It would do more good for the student to study whatever industry he wants to start a business in. If he wants to start a tech company, study CS/EE/ECE. Or if he wants to make physical products, mechanical engineering or something similar. How can you study entrepreneurship and the process of building a company when you don't even have said company to begin with? I've seen the classes in that field, they usually involve having groups of students come up with a weak idea and pitching it to the class, and various variations of that.

I have not heard of any startup which has done well/is doing well from someone who studied entrepreneurship. But I can point to you a bunch of companies and empires founded by people who studied the respective field in college.

 

[mplsdunk]

Yeah seems like they are setting you up to fail to get a buck. A real entrepreneur or future one would see that though. I think it would be better to study corporate finance or something if you want to be an entrepreneur.

 

[sea manup]

purely learning entrepreneurship is a waste of time

spend 90% of your time developing network and skills around the industry you're looking to start a business in and 10% learning about entreperneurship. 

getting a degree to do something you dont need a degree to do is a waste of time and money

 

[bendover]

I'm pretty sure there are some skills you can learn through school but I wouldn't invest in school if starting my own business was my goal

 

[htg designs]

No.

You cant teach a hustlers mentality.
And for everything else, you can do ya googles and
take free courses at Youtube University.

 

[sea manup]

Youtube University.

#1 school in the world 

 

[capital sb]

LOL going to school for a degree in entrepreneurship is about as pointless as obtaining pursuing an interdisciplinary degree. 

 

[Xennial]

 
LOL going to school for a degree in entrepreneurship is about as pointless as obtaining pursuing an interdisciplinary degree. 

Care to provide your reasoning?

 

[sea manup]

 

 
LOL going to school for a degree in entrepreneurship is about as pointless as obtaining pursuing an interdisciplinary degree. 

Care to provide your reasoning?

you dont need a degree to start a company, its useless

 

[natch johnson]

Hell yes you can learn entrepreneurship in school. You're not given a brilliant idea - you're taught how to cultivate an idea, apply it into a specific field, and the business methods that will allow it to succeed.

I'd say a top business school with like-minded/typically wealthy students is a pretty good place to network.

You obviously can't be taught a work ethic in school.

 

[sea manup]

the biggest problem with entrepreneurship in most colleges is that it is a part of the business school.

all you get is a circle jerk of kids who have "amazing" ideas with no technical skills do make those ideas happen

if schools would focus their entrepreneurship programs towards the engineering faculty they would see way better results 

I walk around these exhibition events at my school where people are showing off their mock companies and all i see are pages of business plans without actually being able to make a product.

 

[capital sb]

 
the biggest problem with entrepreneurship in most colleges is that it is a part of the business school.

all you get is a circle jerk of kids who have "amazing" ideas with no technical skills do make those ideas happen

if schools would focus their entrepreneurship programs towards the engineering faculty they would see way better results 

I walk around these exhibition events at my school where people are showing off their mock companies and all i see are pages of business plans without actually being able to make a product.

BINGO .

Lesson #1 A business plan is not required.

Lesson #2 A business plan means nothing if you can't execute or don't have a proven track record.

Take a look at any successful company or entrepreneur, they did not go to school for entrepreneurship or even attend school at all.

Just add this degree to the long list of already pointless money making degrees for universities. 

@yogurt  You are dead on with your statement. I'm out of reps.

 

[sea manup]

 

 
the biggest problem with entrepreneurship in most colleges is that it is a part of the business school.

all you get is a circle jerk of kids who have "amazing" ideas with no technical skills do make those ideas happen

if schools would focus their entrepreneurship programs towards the engineering faculty they would see way better results 

I walk around these exhibition events at my school where people are showing off their mock companies and all i see are pages of business plans without actually being able to make a product.

BINGO .

Lesson #1 A business plan is not required.

Lesson #2 A business plan means nothing if you can't execute or don't have a proven track record.

Take a look at any successful company or entrepreneur, they did not go to school for entrepreneurship or even attend school at all.

Just add this degree to the long list of already pointless money making degrees for universities. 

View media item 1668657

 

[capital sb]

LOL not sure what EWDs plan is, but he has taken more steps than these entrepreneur majors.

Funny thing about the article is that they did not provide any data stating how many graduates have started successful businesses.

 

[yogurt]

Lesson #1 A business plan is not required.

Lesson #2 A business plan means nothing if you can't execute or don't have a proven track record.

Take a look at any successful company or entrepreneur, they did not go to school for entrepreneurship or even attend school at all.

Just add this degree to the long list of already pointless money making degrees for universities. 

@yogurt  You are dead on with your statement. I'm out of reps.

 
the biggest problem with entrepreneurship in most colleges is that it is a part of the business school.

all you get is a circle jerk of kids who have "amazing" ideas with no technical skills do make those ideas happen

if schools would focus their entrepreneurship programs towards the engineering faculty they would see way better results 

I walk around these exhibition events at my school where people are showing off their mock companies and all i see are pages of business plans without actually being able to make a product.

Both of these are spot on.

I'm against the idea of learning business or any of its subsets (with the exception of accounting, which I think is a trade) as an undergraduate. Business students do not have the knowledge to create a strong product unless they already had that ability (basically, the school taught them nothing). If you want good ideas and execution, go to the engineering or computer science buildings.

What exactly is entrepreneurship anyways? It's taking a new idea, executing it, and scaling it. Any moron can come up with the first part. Everyone knows it's the execution that is the difficult part. But instead, you have these fluffy undergrad programs having kids waste 4-years learning how to brainstorm and develop business plans, without any of the hard work behind actually making it a reality. Sounds a lot like a multi-level marketing scheme.

No entrepreneur studied entrepreneurship in college. It's as useless as studying management (because what better way to learn management than to have a 19-year old read case studies? Cause in real life, he's going to walk right into a management position and all of the experienced employees will listen to him!!!). It just so happens that tech and startups are the cool thing right now. These programs cater to kids who want the glory but don't have the discipline or fortitude to take on the challenging part of the success.

Anyone can learn about how to market and raise money (assuming one even gets to that point, which is astronomical odds in and out of itself). But actually building a product that people want to use? Good luck.

 

[capital sb]

I'm against the idea of learning business or any of its subsets (with the exception of accounting, which I think is a trade) as an undergraduate. Business students do not have the knowledge to create a strong product unless they already had that ability (basically, the school taught them nothing). If you want good ideas and execution, go to the engineering or computer science buildings.

What exactly is entrepreneurship anyways? It's taking a new idea, executing it, and scaling it. Any moron can come up with the first part. Everyone knows it's the execution that is the difficult part. But instead, you have these fluffy undergrad programs having kids waste 4-years learning how to brainstorm and develop business plans, without any of the hard work behind actually making it a reality. Sounds a lot like a multi-level marketing scheme.

I agree 100%. If you want to learn how to think choose an engineering or computer science discipline.

Like I said this degree is another useless money maker for universities. The most recent money maker for university is online classes.

It is so funny, so many universities were anti-online classes until they realized how much money it brings in.

Now you have online programs popping up at universities left and right, that will most likely not help people land a job, because the program

isn't accredited and the classes are just thrown together.

 

[sea manup]

Way too many times have I talked to an overly eager business student with a million dollar idea that he spent weeks planning out only to tell them that the technology just doesn't work that way.

There are def areas where a business student can start a company and be successful but 99% of the time they want to be a tech startup which is impossible without technical abilities.

 

[Xennial]

They can just get a technical cofounder

 

[sea manup]

Picking a random dude who can code as a cofounder is a terrible idea. You need someone you can trust and shares the same vision as you do.

 

[yogurt]

They can just get a technical cofounder

You don't just "get" a technical cofounder. This sounds exactly like something a wannabe-entrepreneur business major would say.

How do you plan to get one? Are you going to go to your school's CS building and solicit the kids? They have things like problem sets, recruiting, their own projects and stuff to work on. Want to go get a professional? They're going to want to see a minimum viable product which you are incapable of providing. And these guys hear dozens of "million-dollar ideas" every day.

Often, the technical cofounder should be the only founder. The only reason you'd keep a non-technical guy around is because he is either incredibly connected, business savvy, or actually has the development roadmap for a groundbreaking product in his head. None of which 99.99% of college business majors have. And no, the tech guys don't need the business majors to do "marketing" or "sales" either, since one 20-year old is as convincing as the next.

A huge majority of the technical people I know strongly dislike business types and have disdain for them.

 

[antidope]

At all the random business degree slander in here

 

[mplsdunk]

No.

You cant teach a hustlers mentality.
And for everything else, you can do ya googles and
take free courses at Youtube University.

Exactly. School will be obsolete soon for everything but engineers and doctors. You want to start a company. Go work for someone who is established and learn from them for free while you get paid. Save your money for your start up. Don't piss it away on school because you will need it...

 

[capital sb]

Exactly. School will be obsolete soon for everything but engineers and doctors. You want to start a company. Go work for someone who is established and learn from them for free while you get paid. Save your money for your start up. Don't piss it away on school because you will need it...

Nah man the college scam will be around forever. It is apart of the American Dream being sold. Why would they stop a multibillion dollar industry? It's working out great, prices keep rising and kids keep attending.

 

[sea manup]

 

They can just get a technical cofounder

You don't just "get" a technical cofounder. This sounds exactly like something a wannabe-entrepreneur business major would say.

How do you plan to get one? Are you going to go to your school's CS building and solicit the kids? They have things like problem sets, recruiting, their own projects and stuff to work on. Want to go get a professional? They're going to want to see a minimum viable product which you are incapable of providing. And these guys hear dozens of "million-dollar ideas" every day.

Often, the technical cofounder should be the only founder. The only reason you'd keep a non-technical guy around is because he is either incredibly connected, business savvy, or actually has the development roadmap for a groundbreaking product in his head. None of which 99.99% of college business majors have. And no, the tech guys don't need the business majors to do "marketing" or "sales" either, since one 20-year old is as convincing as the next.

A huge majority of the technical people I know strongly dislike business types and have disdain for them.

you pretty much have to have an idea and personality so attractive that a talented engineer is willing to give up everything in his life to come work on your idea full time with only a promise of equity which currently is worthless. 

another thing business students like to say is "I will develop the product when I get funding". If you cant create at the very least a MVP without funding you're not ready to get into the industry or start a company.