Ask the AdCom: Resources for MBA Students with Startup Fever

Hey everybody! We’re back with another installment of “Ask the AdCom,” where we share a wide range of tips and advice from admissions team members from a dozen top business schools. Since AdCom members are human, too, we know our readers will enjoy seeing  a different side of what makes these guys tick.

This fun space is not really about the application process but more about real-life topics, like what’s a good book to readbest place to study, where you can find a killer meal near campus, and all the fun stuff happening at b-school that creates those lifelong, cherished memories for MBA students.

We hope you become inspired, too!

entrepreneurship at bschool

Today’s question is: What resources are available for student entrepreneurs?

Isser Gallogly, Assistant Dean of MBA Admissions at NYU Stern School of Business: The W.R. Berkley Innovation Lab includes an annual $200K Entrepreneurs Challenge.  This past year, 231 teams comprising more than 800 entrants from 16 schools at NYU competed in one of three challenges: New Venture, Social Venture and Technology Venture.

Melissa Fogerty, Director of Admissions at Yale School of Management: Students from across campus participate in the courses and programs run by our Program on Entrepreneurship, which hosts numerous entrepreneurship electives like Venture Capital & Private Equity Investments, Start-up Founder Practicum (a mechanism for SOM students to work on their start-up ventures for credit), Impact Investing, and New Ventures in Healthcare and the Life Sciences.

Our students also connect with their peers and faculty around Yale through the Yale Entrepreneurial Institute, a campus-wide convening space for entrepreneurs, to start new ventures. This points to one of the huge reasons we put so much energy into engaging with the rest of Yale: it gives our students the opportunity to build diverse teams around meaningful projects, and by doing so, to forge relationships that will benefit them throughout their careers.

Alex Lawrence, Assistant Dean of  MBA Admissions at UCLA Anderson School of Management: The Price Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which includes the Anderson Venture Accelerator, 24 courses involving 20 faculty members, and Entrepreneur Association (student club) presents more than 150 events each year.

Kelly R. Wilson, Executive Director of Admissions at CMU Tepper School of Business: The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship unites the Tepper School with the world’s top-ranked Computer Science college, acclaimed Engineering and Fine Arts schools, and students, faculty and innovation from across a campus that is acclaimed for its startups, research and new big ideas.

Allison Jamison, Admissions Director at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business: Fuqua has a very active entrepreneurship community.  The Program 4 Entrepreneurs (P4E) is a great way for those interested in entrepreneurship to gain experience or grow an idea. If you have an idea for a start up, or want to be a part of a start up team, this is the place to start.  We also maintain a network of alumni entrepreneurs at DukeGEN that works with our staff, faculty, students, and alumni to advance entrepreneurial activities.

John Roeder, Assistant Dean Graduate Admissions at SMU Cox School of Business: Since its founding more than three decades ago, the Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship has continuously developed innovative courses and programs to help students keep pace with the dynamic, rapidly changing field of entrepreneurship. They sponsor the Cox MBA Venture fund, the Southwest Venture Forum, and the Dallas 100 Awards, which is an annual event that identifies and honors the 100 fastest-growing privately held companies in the Dallas area.

Judi Byers, Executive Director of Admissions and Financial Aid at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, tapped Najeen Riazi (MBA ’17) for input: Multiple internal resources at Cornell include a university-wide incubator and resource office, support for numerous case competitions, and graduate-level programming. Br Ventures is a seed-stage venture capital fund focused on providing funding to early-stage, high-growth businesses.

BR Consulting offers commercial and strategic consulting to startup companies, helping them bridge the gap between business idea and company growth. BR Microenterprise offers business advising and lending services to needs-based local entrepreneurs. BR Microenterprise is based at Johnson’s Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise in partnership with a local credit union.

BR Advisory assists on getting young companies off on the right legal track. BR Tech Transfer is a continuous business collaboration between our Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute (EII) and the Cornell Center for Technology Enterprise and Commercialization to help commercialize more Cornell technology faster.

Shari Hubert, Associate Dean of  MBA Admissions at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business: The Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative has created a vibrant community for entrepreneurs both on campus and within the D.C. community. Students can take advantage of Venture Competitions, StartUpHoyas Summer Launch Program, Entrepreneurs Fellows Program, and the 1776 Partnership Incubator in downtown Washington DC, among other offerings.

Morgan Bernstein, Executive Director of Full-Time MBA Admissions at UC Berkeley-Haas School of Business: The Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program (BHEP), is an umbrella program that supports startups & students interested in entrepreneurship, and also connects them with campus resources such as the SkyDeck accelerator—a joint program of Haas, Berkeley Engineering, and UC Berkeley’s Vice Chancellor for Research Office.

Also, our Dean’s Seed Fund provides funding to qualified startups that involve Haas students, and our start-up events such as LAUNCH and the Global Social Venture Competition give students a chance to pitch their business plans to prospective investors.

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It seems there’s no hotter topic at b-schools today than entrepreneurship, right?  Look out for the #AskAdCom in our social media channels, and we’ll see you again next week when we check in to Ask the AdCom about their favorite watering holes near campus!

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