15 US Universities That Are Going To Be The Next Gen Startup Garages

I strongly believe that Entrepreneurship can be learnt inside the gates of a university. Entrepreneurs are often termed as self-taught, self-made humans who just need a suitable environment to quickly adapt and evolve. Entrepreneurship cannot be successfully developed only by the setting up of venture capital funds, incubators or accelerators. I believe people should be nurtured to step up the plate and show me a better place than a university to start with ?  The last generation belonged to college drop outs, and who wouldn’t want to hear the next generation belongs to student entrepreneurs. It’s high time that universities take a step forward and think about Job creation more than Jobs, Placements, Exams, GRE, GATE blah blah . 

Read Also : Can Universities become the Next Gen Startup Garages? 

Here is a list of some of the universities which offer some of the best entrepreneurship programs.

1. Harvard University  

Entrepreneurship Center  :  Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship

Notable Alumni : Katia Beauchamp and Hayley Barna (founders, Birchbox), Jenn Hyman and Jenny Fleiss (founders, Rent the Runway), Tony Hsieh (CEO, Zappos), Salman Khan (founder,Khan Academy), Scott McNealy (co-founder, Sun Microsystems), Mark Pincus (co-founder,Zynga) and Ron Shaich, (co-founder, Panera Bread) 

2. Stanford University 

Entrepreneurship center: Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Notable alumni: Brian Acton (co-founder, WhatsApp), Rich Barton (founder, Expedia.com and founder, Zillow.com), Sergey Brin (co-founder, Google), Joe Coulombe (founder, Trader Joe’s), Reed Hastings (founder, Netflix), Reid Hoffman (founder, LinkedIn), William Hewlett and David Packard (founders, Hewlett Packard), Jawed Karim (co-founder, YouTube), Kevin Systrom (co-founder, Instagram) and Tim Westergren (co-founder, Pandora)

3. Babson College 

Entrepreneurship center: Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship

Notable alumni: Michael Bastian (founder, Michael Bastian), Arthur Blank (co-founder, Home Depot), Bob Davis (founder, Lycos Inc.) and Alberto Perlman (co-founder, Zumba)

4. Brigham Young University

Entrepreneurship center: Rollins Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

Notable alumni: Dave Bateman and Ben Zimmer (founders, Property Solutions International) and Jonathan C. Coon (co-founder, 1-800 Contacts)

5. University Of California, Berkeley  

Entrepreneurship center: Lester Center for Entrepreneurship

Notable alumni: Gordon Moore (co-founder, Intel), Danae Ringelmann and Eric Schell (founders, Indiegogo), Marc Tarpenning (co-founder, Tesla Motors) and Steve Wozniak (co-founder, Apple)

6. University Of Chicago

Entrepreneurship center: Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Notable alumni: Bryan Johnson (founder, Braintree) and Matt Maloney (co-founder, GrubHub)

7. University Of Houston

Entrepreneurship center: Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship 

Notable alumni: Rod Canion (co-founder, Compaq Computer Corporation) and John Moores (co-founder, BMC Softwares) 

8. Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Entrepreneurship center: The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship

Notable alumni: Colin Angle and Helen Grenier (founders, iRobot), Amar Bose (founder, Bose Corporation), Robin Chase (co-founder, ZipCar), Tom Leighton and Danny Lewin (co-founders,Akamai Technologies), Jonah Peretti (co-founder, The Huffington Post and founder, BuzzFeed) and William Porter (co-founder, Etrade)

9. University Of Michigan  

Entrepreneurship center: Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studiesand College of Engineering Center for Entrepreneurship 

Notable alumni: David Barger (co-founder, JetBlue Airways), Bharat Desai (founder, Syntel), Brad Keywell (co-founder, Groupon), Jerry Murrell (founder, Five Guys Burgers and Fries), Larry Page (co-founder, Google) and Robert Shaye (co-founder, New Line Cinema)

10. University Of North Carolina 

Entrepreneurship center: Kenan-Flagler Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Notable alumni: Ryan Allis (co-founder, iContact) and Jason Kilar (founder, Hulu)

11. University of Pennsylvania 

Entrepreneurship center: Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center

Notable alumni: Neil Blumenthal, David Gilboa, Andrew Hunt, Jeffrey Raider (founders, Warby Parker), Leonard Bosack (co-founder, Cisco Systems), Josh Kopelman (founder, Half.com), Cyrus Massoumi (founder, ZocDoc) and Elon Musk (co-founder, PayPal and co-founder, Tesla Motors) 

12. Princeton University 

Entrepreneurship center: The Keller Center 

Notable alumni: Jeff Bezos (founder, Amazon) and Frank Moss (co-founder, Bluefin Labs)

13. University of Southern California

Entrepreneurship center: Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Notable alumni: Marc Benioff (founder, Salesforce.com), Scott Cook (co-founder, Intuit), Shelly Hwang (co-founder, Pinkberry), Paul Orfalea (founder, Kinko’s) and Andrew Viterbi (co-founder,Qualcomm)

14. University of Texas, Austin

Entrepreneurship center: Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship

Notable alumni: Burt Butler Beveridge II (founder, Tito’s Vodka), Austin Ligon (co-founder,CarMax), Red McCombs (co-founder, Clear Channel Communications), William Nowlin and Dave Truchard (co-founders, National Instruments) and David Smith (co-founder, Sweet Leaf Tea Company)

15. Washington University in St. Louis 

Entrepreneurship center: The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

Notable alumni: Barry Babcock and Jerald Kent (co-founders, Charter Communications) and George Zimmer (founder, Men’s Wearhouse)

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