Social Entrepreneurship - Which Schools??

This is a valid concern, and one that I share as well. That's why I think it's important to examine top schools.



Let's add Columbia and NYU to the list. And I completely forgot about Ross...

The Aspen Institute had Notre Dame - Mendoza ranked quite high, but I don't know where they place in the traditional rankings.

I will preface this by saying i 1.) know nothing about this subject area 2.) have no interest in pursuing it, BUT...i would add McCombs to your list. They are a top 10 program for entrepreneurship (per USNews) and Austin is a hot-bed for both social awareness and VC/entrepreneurial ventures. Many students at preview weekend were drawn to UT for those very reasons, including several interested in "social enterprise". Google the Venture Fellows program for some more specific detail.

You may want to consider Duke. One of the reasons why I am choosing to go to Duke over a couple of other schools on your list is the school's Center for Social Entrepeneurship.

I would also add Kellogg to that list. They have a specific Social Entrepreneurship at Kellogg (SEEK) program which allows you to take some really great classes and get connected to strong resources. My interest is in Social Enterprise and my advice would be to look at a school which has an emphasis in that area but which is also strong in a lot of other areas and which will give you a broad education (that's why I will probably be choosing Kellogg over Yale). Also look at alumni and the types of companies you want to work for and if they recruit at the schools you're interested in.

To add to Aenigma's point, if you come from a nonprofit background, I would say choosing a financy/quant school would be an advantage as it would give you the hard skills you need (I spoke to a lot of students interested in Social Enterprise who chose Booth for this exact reason). I was a finance undergrad and am coming from the banking sector, so my decision making process is currently a bit different (although I am still undecided as well)

Outside of the US, Oxford is considered a top notch program in social entrepreneurship.

Posted from my mobile device

USNWR has specialty ranking for non-profit. The social entrepreneur ranking is pretty close to that (maybe cross reference it with the entrepreneurship ranking). Someone already mentioned the Aspen institute's ranking, but that ranking is gear toward the sustainability aspect, which is only a subset of "social entrepreneurship". You can also look at the schools with gold Net Impact clubs to get an idea of how strong it is in that area.

The non-profit ranking for reference:
1 Yale University New Haven, CT
2 University of California--Berkeley (Haas) Berkeley, CA
3 Stanford University Stanford, CA
4 Northwestern University (Kellogg) Evanston, IL
5 Harvard University Boston, MA
6 University of Michigan--Ann Arbor (Ross) Ann Arbor, MI
7 Duke University (Fuqua) Durham, NC
8 University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) Philadelphia, PA
9 Columbia University New York, NY
10 New York University (Stern) New York, NY

For those interested in this sector, businessweek has a great article today on "MBA Without Borders". I think it can be a good post-MBA opportunity, especially for those schools with loan forgiveness programs.

https://www.businessweek.com/bschools/co ... 563463.htm

An important resource for anyone looking to enter public service post-graduation is the recently-passed Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which applies to your loans regardless of your school or degree program. You only need to make 120 monthly payments (10 years, may be non-consecutive) while employed at a public or non-profit organization, AmeriCorps/PeaceCorps or a variety of other organizations whose primary function is to enhance the public good. Paired with Income Based Repayment, it could save you a significant amount of money post-graduation, provided it isn't repealed within the next 12 years.

More info:

https://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html

In Fall of 2009, I spoke to one of the founders of Endeavor, a non-profit dedicated to supporting high impact entrepreneurs in developing countries. When I asked what the top MBA programs for social entrepreneurship were, he said HBS, Stanford, and Duke, because all 3 have benefited from the leadership of Greg Dees. Professor Dees is currently at Duke running the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship.

I would highly recommend using the Net Impact Business as Unusual Guide to Graduate Programs to educate yourself about the various schools. Ultimately I applied to the following schools based on their social enterprise programs:

Ross (full tuition), Yale (full tuition), Duke (85% tuition), NYU (accepted)
HBS (int.->ding), Stanford (int.->ding), Kellogg (int.->ding), Columbia (int.->W/L->Decline)

I'll be going to Duke. It was tough to decide between Duke, Ross, and Yale, but ultimately Duke has better intangibles (weather, women, international diversity, basketball, better class size & facilities than Yale, better East coast connects & housing situation than Ross) than the other two programs that gave me $.

Wow, awesome info guys, this is great...keep it coming.

Cannedmilkman...you did amazing, do you mind me asking what your profile looks like?

GPA: 3.6 at top 30 UG
GMAT: 770
WE: 2 years mgmt consulting, 1 year teaching English abroad, 1 year social enterprise consulting
EC: nothing outstanding. Mostly career-related social sector volunteering

I recommend applying to as many schools as possible to increase your scholarship chances, since as a social entrepreneurship candidate you will have lower expected earnings to repay your debt. Honestly the whole process is something of a crapshoot, so try not to get emotionally attached to any schools until you've been accepted. Applying to so many schools is a ton of work, but I feel like the effort was worth it for me. Good luck!

I am also interested in Social Enterprise towards a Long Term Goal.

My school list would be something like CBS-Kellogg-Tuck-NYU

Hi VictoryMBA. Thank you for sharing a great post.

Professionals like yourself who are serious about learning about & positioning themselves for a career in social entrepreneurship should consider our professional group, USA Leadership Corps (www usaLeadershipCorps org) .

USALC partners with pre-MBAs who are looking to build their consulting, entrepreneurship, and/or community-involvement resumes via leading part-time volunteer nonprofit strategy consulting projects. Please visit our website to learn more.

Thank you & good luck.

Maxwell Roper
Outreach Director
USA Leadership Corps

Hahaha kind of love that you list women as an intangible plus for going to Duke.

Hi Cannedmilkman!

I´m just now in the same position of you some years ago. Could you tell me what are the schools that finally you applied for Social Enterpreneurship?

Thanks!!

Hello from the GMAT Club MBAbot!

Thanks to another GMAT Club member, I have just discovered this valuable topic, yet it had no discussion for over a year. I am now bumping it up - doing my job. I think you may find it valuable (esp those replies with Kudos).

Want to see all other topics I dig out? Follow me (click follow button on profile). You will receive a summary of all topics I bump in your profile area as well as via email.