School of Entrepreneurship graduate program receives top-25 ranking from Princeton Review

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Oklahoma State University’s School of Entrepreneurship has been recognized as one of the top schools in the nation for the third year in a row, according to the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

The School of Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business is ranked 22nd on the list of Top 25 Graduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Programs for 2014. The rankings are based on surveys sent to more than 2,000 institutions from April to June in 2013. The Princeton Review has reported these lists annually since 2006 in partnership with Entrepreneur Media Inc., publisher of Entrepreneur magazine.

“We are pleased that the Princeton Review has once again recognized our graduate program in entrepreneurship. Congratulations to Bruce (Barringer, head of the School of Entrepreneurship) and his team for their efforts in providing great opportunities for their students. Their dedication reflects how important graduate programs are to the Spears School of Business,” said Ken Eastman, interim dean of the Spears School of Business.

The Spears School’s entrepreneurship program started in 2008 and has quickly made a name for itself across the nation. The OSU School of Entrepreneurship debuted in the top 25 in the 2012 rankings (No. 23 for the graduate program and No. 24 for the undergraduate program). The OSU programs were also included in the 2013 rankings.

“It’s very gratifying for our program to be recognized by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine,” said Barringer. “We have excellent students who work hard. Many aspire to start their own business and are actively working on their business starts. We’re confident that the program will continue to grow and climb in the rankings.”

The Princeton Review chooses the schools based on a wide range of institutional data it evaluates for this project. Schools are asked about the levels of their commitment to entrepreneurship inside and outside the classroom, the percentage of their faculty, students, and alumni actively and successfully involved in entrepreneurial endeavors, the number of their mentorship programs, and their funding for scholarships and grants for entrepreneurial studies and projects.

The OSU entrepreneurship program has received national recognition from several organizations in recent years for its excellence in a number of areas:

• The Master’s In Entrepreneurship online program is No. 1 in the nation in the rankings of the 20 Best Online MBA Entrepreneurship Program (TheBestSchools.org);

• The Spears School’s entrepreneurship program tied for No. 22 in the 2014 rankings of the nation’s top 25 business schools for entrepreneurship (U.S. News and World Report);

• The 2013 National Model Ph.D. Program Award, given annually to one university in the nation (United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship);Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers) 

• The Riata Center for Entrepreneurship, the school’s outreach program, was the 2012 recipient of the NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurship Excellence Award (Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers);

• The 2012 National Model Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program Award, given annually to one university in the United States (United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship).

“We commend the School of Entrepreneurship in the Spears School of Business and all of the other institutions on our list this year not only for their superb faculties and wide range of courses in entrepreneurship, but also for their out-of-class offerings,” said Robert Franek, senior vice president/publisher for Princeton Review. “Their students have extraordinary opportunities to network with established entrepreneurs, interact on teams that turn promising ideas into possible start-ups, and develop skills to launch their own successful businesses.

The top entrepreneurship program lists are posted on The Princeton Review's website at www.princetonreview.com/entrepreneur. Entrepreneur magazine has also posted the ranking lists on its website at www.entrepreneur.com/topcolleges. The magazine's feature article will appear in its October issue, available on newsstands Sept. 24.