DePaul’s well-ranked entrepreneurship program provides students access to pitch competitions with prizes that help them grow their businesses. | Photo by Kathy Hillegonds
DePaul University is among the best places to study entrepreneurship, according to two recent rankings that surveyed hundreds of college entrepreneurship programs.
The Princeton Review’s 2022 “Top Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies” survey ranked DePaul’s graduate program No. 6 in the Midwest (and No. 18 nationally) and undergraduate program No. 10 in the Midwest (and No. 35 nationally). Released Nov. 16, the annual college rankings provided both regional and national rankings for the first time this year.
Last month DePaul’s MBA in entrepreneurship program moved up 10 spots to No. 30 in the 3rd annual “World’s Best Programs for Entrepreneurship,” a global ranking issued by Poets & Quants, a popular website for prospective business students.
DePaul offers bachelor’s in business, MBA and Master of Science degrees in entrepreneurship. An online MS in Entrepreneurship, with periodic residencies on campus, launched this fall. Undergraduate students also can minor in entrepreneurship.
DePaul’s entrepreneur programs are well-ranked because they offer students a blend of classroom and hands-on learning, says Lisa Gundry, chair of the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship at DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business.
“Our academic programs and extracurricular experiences are designed to support entrepreneurs and innovative leaders in creating new enterprises and growing existing ventures,” she says. “Inclusion in these rankings is a great honor and underscores our commitment to provide a high-quality, relevant entrepreneurial education to students in our business school and across the university. Students work closely with specialized faculty and conduct projects with local businesses that complement academic courses, enabling future entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and build businesses with impact.”
Located within DePaul’s Driehaus College of Business, the
Coleman Entrepreneurship Center provides a hub for DePaul’s budding entrepreneurs to develop their ideas and connect to Chicago’s entrepreneur ecosystem. Bruce Leech, executive director of the center, emphasizes that the center’s resources are available to the entire DePaul community.
“We work with all of DePaul’s colleges and schools to support student and alumni entrepreneurs,” he explains. “Our workshops, events, pitch competitions, internships and mentorship programs aim to provide experiential learning to complement our academic programs. In addition, we strive to connect our DePaul community with all of the ecosystem partners in Chicago that support startups in the area. As we celebrate our 18th year as a center, we look forward to continuing to support the entrepreneurial spirit at DePaul for all our stakeholders.”
That support includes a recently announced
Social Impact Business Incubator. The pilot program, which begins in January, will assist DePaul students, alumni and community entrepreneurs in launching and growing ventures that have a social impact or sustainability focus.
A Launching Pad for Alumni Ventures
Data collected for the Princeton Review rankings survey indicate DePaul’s success as a launching pad for alumni entrepreneur ventures. Over the past 10 years, DePaul alumni have collectively founded nearly 1,000 businesses and raised about $67 million dollars in capital.
Alumnus Russ Gottesman (MBA ’11)
Alumnus Russ Gottesman (MBA ’11) praised DePaul’s program for providing the foundation for his entrepreneurial career to take off. A serial entrepreneur, Gottesman is the founder of Commuter Ads, The Closing Company and his newest venture, Cocktail Claw.
“DePaul’s entrepreneurship ecosystem added to my career trajectory in immeasurable ways,” he says. “DePaul’s entrepreneurship mentor system and in-depth workshops designed to build the base platforms for emerging businesses—such as developing your company’s financial models, go-to market strategies, marketing concepts, pricing, social media and all things needed to launch a business—are incredible.”
The Princeton Review rankings were based on survey data on from more than 300 entrepreneur programs nationally that included percentage of faculty, students and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors; the number and reach of mentorship programs, scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies; and the level of support for school-sponsored business plan competitions.
The Poets & Quants rankings evaluated factors that included percentage of MBAs launching businesses during business school or immediately afterward and the percentage of MBA elective courses that are 100% focused on entrepreneurship and/or innovation, as well as entrepreneurship club membership, access to incubators/accelerators and entrepreneurs in residence, and startup award money available to MBA students.
Learn more about DePaul’s entrepreneurship programs: