Top 10 MBA Programs for a Career in Entrepreneurship 2021

Released today, the QS MBA by Specialization Rankings 2021 provide insight into the world’s top business schools and MBA programs for seven different areas of specialism.

Schools are ranked based on employer reputation and research strength for each of the seven areas, as well as the number of career placements MBA graduates from the school have achieved in the field. Each of these three indicators is assigned a score out of 100.

Stanford Graduate School of Business has been ranked as the best business school in the world specializing in entrepreneurship for yet another year, with 15 percent of its graduates starting their own business. The complete top 10 can be found below.

10) Saïd Business School

Kicking off the entrepreneurship specialization top 10 is Saïd Business School. The one-year MBA program scored a near perfect score for employer reputation.

The entrepreneurship integration module at Saïd looks at entrepreneurship as the ability to effectively deploy resources to devise business solutions to complex and multifaceted challenges. It focuses on two main areas of entrepreneurship: social entrepreneurship and technological entrepreneurship.

Saïd’s MBA class profile for 2020-21 features a class size of 315, 67 nationalities, 92 percent international students, 479 percent female students, an average of five years’ work experience, and a median GMAT of 680.

9) IE Business School

The Madrid-based full-time MBA program at IE scored a perfect score for the career placements indicator (the only program in the top 10). The 2019 graduating class boasted a cohort of 598, of which 22 percent of grads started their own business.

IE had 35 international venture days in the last three years, and students are able to shape, design, and develop their business ideas in the Venture Lab.

The program takes one year to complete, with intakes in September and January. Tuition fees for the 2020-21 academic year are €72,200 (approx. US$82,000).

8) Judge Business School

Judge’s entrepreneurship concentration gives students the skills and knowledge to help them start their own business and grow it successfully.

During the entrepreneurship concentration, students will learn about different types of entrepreneurship, including social enterprise, family businesses, blended models, life-style companies, consulting, bootstrapped businesses, and venture-funded businesses.

There were 206 students in the MBA graduating class of 2019. Fees for the 12-month Cambridge MBA program for the class of 2021/22 are £59,000, plus additional program charges.

7) IESE Business School

IESE prides itself on its innovative ethos, inspiring the leaders and start-up entrepreneurs of tomorrow. The program – with 368 students – scored a close to perfect score for the employer reputation indicator.

IESE’s Entrepreneurship Department focuses on new venture creation, intrapreneurship and entrepreneurial management within existing organizations. Interestingly, a third of IESE alumni have participated in the creation of a company at some point during their career.

The entrepreneurship course – taught since 1974 – covers such topics as:

• Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Management
• Entrepreneurial Strategies for Social Impact
• Entrepreneurial Negotiations
• Financing Entrepreneurial Opportunities

6) The Wharton School

Students undertaking the Entrepreneurship & Innovation major at Wharton can prepare themselves for entrepreneurial ventures as autonomous entrepreneurs, family-business entrepreneurs, or entrepreneurs in corporate settings. The MBA program scored a perfect score for employer reputation.

The entrepreneurship and innovation major at Wharton includes electives, such as:

• Managing Strategic Partnerships
• Corporate Development: Mergers & Acquisitions
• Change, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
• Venture Capital and Entrepreneurial Management
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship through Acquisition
• Strategies and Practices of Family-Controlled Companies

In fact, there are 20+ entrepreneurial programs at Wharton and Penn. 183 MBA students are currently enrolled on the entrepreneurship and innovation major and the school has a clear track record of producing entrepreneurs. Students will pay US$111,695 in tuition for their first year.

5) Copenhagen Business School

Copenhagen Business School’s MBA program is one-year in total. Copenhagen earned high scores for research strength and employer reputation indicators, with 14 percent of students starting their own business after graduation.

The entrepreneurship platform connects CBS' resources in entrepreneurship research and education, including CBS' global networks to business leaders and experts, with entrepreneurship in the Danish society and in the Nordic Region

Students on the MBA program will pay US$50,000 in tuition.

4) Imperial College Business School

Located in London, England’s capital and global business hub, Imperial scored very highly for the Research Strength and Employer Reputation indicators.

Imperial students can utilize the Imperial Enterprise Lab, The Venture Catalyst Challenge, WE Innovate @ Imperial Program, Imperial Business Pitch, and Advanced Hackspace.

The fees for the full-time MBA are £54,500 for both UK and international students. If you have your own business ideas, the school’s entrepreneurship club may be a good place to start.

3) Harvard Business School

HBS has long been regarded for its stellar MBA program – with the entrepreneurship track earning a perfect score for the employer reputation indicator.

There are 450 students in entrepreneurship club at HBS, as well as 35 different professors teaching entrepreneurial management electives.

HBS’ Rock Centre for Entrepreneurship supports faculty research, fellowships for MBA and doctoral students. Students can undertake the annual New Venture Competition, and symposia and conferences, one-one-one meetings with the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and Rock Summer Fellows.

Harvard’s class of 2022 has 732 students – much smaller than the usual 930 students, as participants were given the option to defer because of the coronavirus pandemic. Within the cohort, 33 percent are international, 44 percent are female, with an average of 4.7 years’ work experience. Tuition fees for the 24-month program are US$111,818.

2) MIT Sloan

Sloan has soared up the top 10 for entrepreneurship ranking by nine places this year – earning a close to perfect score for research strength and employer reputation.

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) Track focuses on learning how to launch and develop innovative and emerging technology companies and emphasizes the integration of academic and practitioner lessons, team practice, and real-world application in entrepreneurship.

Required subjects on the track include:

• Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship
• E&I Study Tour
• New Enterprises
• Entrepreneurial Strategy

Students can also compete in the MIR $100K Entrepreneurship Competition and the MIT Clean Energy Prize.

Sloan’s MBA Class of 2022 has 484 students, of which, 33 percent are international, 38 percent are female, 51 nationalities are represented, and students have an average of five years’ work experience. Students have a median GMAT score of 720. For the academic year 2020-2021, students would pay US$77,168 intuition.

1) Stanford Graduate School of Business

Landing the top spot in the MBA specialization rankings for entrepreneurship yet again is Stanford. Stanford scored very highly in all ranking indicators, with a perfect score in employer reputation. Of the graduating class of 2019, 15 percent of the 417 students started their own business.

There are many entrepreneurial-themed courses you could study at Stanford including Social Ventures Practicum; Creativity Rules: Inventing the Future; The Lean Launchpad: Getting Your Lean Startup off the Ground, and many more.

The two-year program has tuition fees of US$74,706 per academic year.