UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has been ranked as the No. 28 school for undergraduate entrepreneurship studies by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine in the partnership's annual ratings released Nov. 12, moving up five spots from the previous year. Among schools in the Mid-Atlantic region, Penn State came in at No. 4.

The 2025 rankings are based on a survey the Princeton Review conducted in summer 2024 of administrators at nearly 300 schools in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe offering entrepreneurship studies. The education services company's methodology for the rankings considers more than 40 data points. Among them are academic offerings, faculty credentials, mentorship and experiential learning opportunities, alumni entrepreneurship ventures and other distinctions. The full methodology can be viewed here.

Penn State's ranking was based off a comprehensive set of data that was drawn from across the University’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, including the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIENT) major in the Smeal College of Business; the intercollege Entrepreneurship & Innovation (ENTI) minor and the Center for Penn State Student Entrepreneurship in the Office of Undergraduate Education; and the Office of Entrepreneurship and Commercialization in the Office of the Senior Vice President for Research.

In alignment with goals set forth by University President Neeli Bendapudi, the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Penn State puts a focus on enhancing student success as well as increasing its overall statewide impact as Pennsylvania’s only land-grant university.

“Our students have access to a wide range of entrepreneurial programs at our campuses across the commonwealth, as well as the 10 tracks offered through the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Minor program,” said Kathy Bieschke, senior vice provost and interim dean of Undergraduate Education. “We are fortunate to have talented faculty who lead these programs with passion and share their experience with aspiring entrepreneurs.”

Over the last 15 years, more than 25,000 students from 241 majors have enrolled in at least one course offered by the ENTI minor or the CIENT major. Additionally, almost 1,500 alumni have earned the ENTI minor in the last 15 years.

The ENTI courses develop skills, knowledge and values in problem solving, innovation, opportunity recognition, self-efficacy, leadership, ethics, communications and learning from failure. Class sessions are typically workshops, discussions or team-learning formats, where students are challenged to create new ideas and be able to present with confidence and strive for solutions.

The CIENT major similarly develops problem solving and creative thinking skills, and is designed for students interested in managing innovation, re-inventing current businesses, supporting a family business, or starting new businesses with the intent of growing the economy and providing jobs for a diverse workforce.

Alumni of the CIENT major and ENTI minor have collectively raised $1,750,000 for their businesses over the past five years. These companies range from sustainable materials recycling to electric-vehicle charging to a community-building organization for queer-identifying individuals.

“The CIENT major prepares students to be innovative, continuous learners throughout their careers,” said Travis Lesser, instructor in entrepreneurship and coordinator for the CIENT major at Smeal. “Whether they choose to start their own business, or be changemakers within a larger organization, we have seen our students and alumni apply an entrepreneurial skill set to their positions at companies such as Deloitte, Aldi and Amazon, as well as in starting their own ventures with success both prior to and after graduating.”

In addition to and in partnership with these academic offerings, the Invent Penn State initiative provides students with a network of expert mentors, hands-on events, pitch competitions, funding opportunities, and accelerator programs outside of the classroom to jumpstart their entrepreneurial endeavors. These opportunities, combined with in-classroom learning, creates a robust, full-circle learning environment and experience for students to easily apply what they learn in the classroom to real-world experiences, with the full support of the University's entrepreneurial ecosystem behind them.

A signature program of Invent Penn State is the LaunchBox & Innovation Network, a network of 21 LaunchBoxes and innovation spaces embedded within Penn State's campus communities. These spaces are equipped with the no-cost resources such as accelerator programs, mentor expertise, co-working space and legal advice that early-stage startups need to succeed.

The University strives to support promising student startups not only through mentorship and programming, but also through awarding cash prizes. From the Invent Penn State Inc.U Competition to the Mont Alto LaunchBox LION Tank pitch competition, in the 2023-24 academic year, Penn State pitch competitions provided a total of $86,750 in cash prizes to undergraduate startups.

“Invent Penn State and the Penn State entrepreneurial ecosystem at large inspires students to embrace entrepreneurship across both their personal and professional lives,” said James Delattre, associate vice president for research and director of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. “Across our campuses, programs like the Sheetz Fellows at Penn State Altoona and the Graham Fellows at Penn State York provide immersive learning experiences. This comprehensive approach to entrepreneurial education gives students practical opportunities to develop the skills needed to thrive as entrepreneurs in the real world.”

In addition to the Princeton Review ranking, PitchBook, a capital market company, recently ranked Penn State No. 35 on a list of the top 100 universities internationally ranked by undergraduate alumni entrepreneurs who have raised venture capital (VC) in the last decade. The rankings are powered by PitchBook data and are based on an analysis of more than 150,000 VC-backed founders.

Visit Princeton Review's website to view the complete list of the Princeton Review’s top undergraduate programs across the U.S. and learn more about this year’s ranking methodology.

About Invent Penn State

Invent Penn State is a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. Invent Penn State blends entrepreneurship-focused academic programs, business startup training and incubation, funding for commercialization, and university/community/industry collaborations to facilitate the challenging process of turning research discoveries into valuable products and services that can benefit Pennsylvanians and humankind.  

This project was financed in part by a grant from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development.