Why Should you Study Entrepreneurship as a College Student?

The skills learned in entrepreneurship are not just for people who want to start a business. Regardless of your plans for the future, this entrepreneurship education can help you build your network, practice innovation, diversify your skill set and more A list of degrees for a college student that could specifically benefit from entrepreneurial studies includes business, finance, marketing, economics, communications, computer science, environmental science, engineering and psychology.  

One important concept to learn in entrepreneurial studies is how to write a business plan. A business plan is a formal document used for the long-range planning of a company’s operation, which typically includes background information, financial information, and a summary of the business. Understanding how to read and write a business plan will be helpful for work in any sort of business environment and for potential shareholding in corporations. 

An entrepreneurship education also teaches students the underlying principles of starting a business, how to avoid common pitfalls, pitch ideas more effectively, validate your product, develop a solid business model and set yourself up for success in a field where failure is common. Studying entrepreneurship as a college student requires the study of financial literacy and strategic thinking skills as well. It also requires students to learn about networking and how to have a growth mindset. 

A big part of entrepreneurship study is learning from past entrepreneurs. Students can learn from mistakes of past entrepreneurs that have come before them; see what information they were missing at the beginning of their business that could have been helpful. They also can recognize what strategies worked best with customers. Learning from past entrepreneurs can give students actionable steps on how to practically start a business.  

A Princeton Review each year identifies the top entrepreneurship colleges in the country and internationally. An entrepreneurship college may be hard to define exactly however, due to the fact that as of 2008 there were 5,000 different entrepreneurship classes offered at universities across the nation. Over 400,000 students a year take these classes, and around 9,000 faculty members teach them.  

According to the most recent Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Report from Babson College, entrepreneurial activity in the US rose to over 17 percent in 2019—a 10 percent increase from 2018 and the highest level recorded in 21 years. These statistics show the growth of the concept of entrepreneurship college, as well as the scope of options students have when studying this field. The idea of the entrepreneurship center has developed across the country, these centers exist solely to help entrepreneurs in their area get started. Certificate programs are in place to train the people who run these centers.  

In 2020, there has been a huge growth in entrepreneurship, so much so that it is beginning to be taught as a class in high school. High schoolers are beginning to recognize entrepreneurship as something good to add to a resume or college application. The growing demand for an entrepreneurship education has come from economic conditions that make entrepreneurship tempting. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the global economy in ways that continue to grow the field of entrepreneurship, which is yet another reason to study it. 

The first reason that the current economic climate has grown entrepreneurship is due to career uncertainty. Covid-19 has caused many people to become entrepreneurs as they recognize the fragility of their mainstream careers and their need for self-sustenance and flexibility in hard times. There has also been huge growth in online business. There are many new ways to spread the word about small online businesses that stemmed from the need for online shopping during the pandemic. In addition, social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram have made many small entrepreneurs’ businesses go viral. 

In addition, high schoolers and college students have been given more time during the school year, because in many areas sports have been on hold and online classes have created flexibility. This change in student life opens opportunities for them to learn about and attempt entrepreneurship in their free time. Last, as the economic crisis has hurt traditional job opportunities, people’s eyes have been opened to the many other ways in which you can make money besides a typical desk job.  

There are many examples of entrepreneurship principles in the real world. Having studied the topics has proven to be beneficial to getting jobs in sales, business consulting, research and development, non-profit fundraising, recruiting, and business reporting. Starting a small business requires an understanding of entrepreneurship, but many other careers will benefit from these studies as well.