SLU’s Entrepreneurship Programs Rank Among the Best

11/19/2019

Entrepreneurship programs at Saint Louis University’s Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business are among the best in the country, according to recent rankings from the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine.

The school’s graduate program ranked #20 and the undergraduate program ranked #33 on the 2020 entrepreneurship studies lists. SLU was among the more than 300 schools that reported data in June-August 2019 surveys about their entrepreneurship programs.

This is the 14^th year the publications have ranked entrepreneurship programs. The list of the top 25 graduate and top 50 undergraduate entrepreneurship programs is available in the December issue of Entrepreneur, which is on newsstands Nov. 19.

SLU’s graduate entrepreneurship program at a glance:

• 81% faculty have entrepreneurial experience
• 74 startups launched by graduates in the last five years
• $42 million in funding raised by graduates in the last five years
• Curriculum part of 24 departments in 10 schools and colleges
• Entrepreneurship majors in business, nutrition and law
• Graduate certificate in entrepreneurship available campus-wide

SLU’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program at a glance:

• 76 businesses started graduates in the last five years
• $19 million in funding raised by graduates in the last five years
• Undergraduate majors and minors available in entrepreneurship
• Entrepreneurship content spread across curricula of 16 departments in five schools and colleges

SLU has a rich legacy of entrepreneurship education.

• Chaifetz Center for Entrepreneurship is a national leader in creating and offering innovative high school, college and community programs that promote economic growth.
• SLUStart I-Corps is the home of a National Science Foundation I-Corps site, which is designed for academic institutions to bring together teams that have technology ripe for commercialization.
• SLU law’s student-led Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic provides transactional representation to entrepreneurs, nonprofits, community groups and small businesses.
• The Chaifetz School hosts national pitch competitions for entrepreneurship students including its Pure Idea Generator, Real Elevator Pitch and Pitch & Catch contests.
• SLU student teams are prominent players in national entrepreneurship competitions like SXSW Student Startup Madness, Coleman Fellows Network, Kern Engineering Entrepreneurship Network and the Experiential Classroom
• SLU's nationally recognized faculty have produced high quality, peer-reviewed research and authored textbooks such as Entrepreneurial Small Business, which is used by more than 250 U.S. schools

St. Louis is a great place for startups. With its burgeoning tech district, St. Louis has been ranked by WalletHub as the 26^th best large city to start a business. Forbes has also ranked St. Louis America’s #2 rising city for startups.  

The Princeton Review/Entrepreneur’s rankings were based  answers to 60 questions:

• Academics and requirements, such as the number of entrepreneurship-related courses and the presence of a dedicated entrepreneurship center where students can apply what they learn
• Number of students and faculty engaged in entrepreneurial studies
• Alumni entrepreneurship ventures, such as the number of companies founded by graduates and funding graduates raised for their startups
• Interactions outside the classroom, such as through mentors outside the university
• Competitions hosted by the school that drew students from other schools to campus
• Scholarship and aid

Founded in 1910, the Richard A. Chaifetz School of Business at Saint Louis University has shaped the future of industry for more than a century. As the oldest business school west of the Mississippi, the Chaifetz School of Business has built a reputation as a leader in business education with seven undergraduate and graduate programs nationally ranked by U.S. News & World Report.