I live in Texas, but I don’t think I could make it into UT. If I want to start my own business after college, what college should I go to and what courses should I take? I have about a 2.4 GPA but I’m not really sure (could be lower).
Remember: I want colleges that I would have a shot at getting in to… I’m a high school junior and I haven’t taken the SAT yet (I got a 177 out of 240 on the PSAT).
Thank you for the suggestions so far….
but please remember to keep the college suggestions reasonable… I’m pretty sure I’m not going to get into Rice with my grades…
As for going to college at all, I know it’s not a pre-requisite, but it is for my parents. I’m going to have to go to a four-year college unless I somehow convince them otherwise. Basically, I have to go to college, so I might as well get some good ideas while I’m there…
12 Responses to What college should I go to in order to become a successful entrepreneur?
Univerisity of Phoenix.
Become a successful entrepeneur first, then use your money to study something fun at college.
The school of hard knocks…
you dont need a degree to become an entrepreneur!!!
I’d say University of Chicago Buisness School. It’s one of the best in the country. PS great score! You’ll do fine on the SAT. It’s a LOT easier than the PSAT i just took the SAT, and scored like 200 pts higher on it than i did on my converted PSAT score lol. Good Luck!
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that college is a pre-requisite to being a good entrepreneur. Many successful people started businesses with no degree. I think a technical college would give you what you need as far as general business (accounting, marketing, etc.), and local entrepreneurial organizations often offer trainings. To me, getting a degree from a top school is useful to get your foot in the door for a corporate job, or grad school. Anywho, good luck !
you could go to rice, u of h, baylor
Unless you have a lot of money you should start in a community college for two years. First, it is cheap. Second, you can brush up the fundamentals which you may have missed in high school. Third, once you finish, you transfer to a better four-year school (maybe UT) with a better GPA, and you get the same degree as if you had gone for all four years. Finally, you could probably work in addition to school which if you want to be an entrepreneur may be more valuable than college.
College is a good thing to have but it’s got nothing to do with your success or failure as an entrepreneur. College graduates generally make good employees for the same reasons former military people do. They gain regimentation and learn compliance and obedience. I don’t know the stats but I’m willing to bet there’s no direct correlation with grads and entrepreneurs. If any correlation at all it would be reversed.
the only thing in most any college is the business courses themselves. outside of that you need self study. start by reading a book called “rhinocerus success” by scott alexander, then “the world’s greatest salesman” by zig zigler, then “everything they didn’t teach you in harvard business school”. After those, you’ll know which direction to follow.
Yo man, junior colleges or community colleges are awesome to start off at. No offense, but with your GPA, you would need a really good SAT and even that may not help enough. I know in Florida, with a two year degree from a community college it automatically grants you acceptance into any state university. It doesn’t grant you automatic acceptance into a program such as entrepeneurship though, but most of the time it’s not a big deal as long as it’s not a small program that is very selective to who it picks. For example, if you want to get into a computer design school that only accepts 100 students a semester and you maintain you current grades and they aren’t better than 100 more applicants you won’t be able to get into that comp graphics school. Most entre. programs are small programs attached to the very large guise of a business school which almost anyone can get into so you would be good going the community college route.
One of the attributes of successful entrepreneurs is ingenuity, the ability to think outside the box. I think a lot of people will tell you that being your own successful businessman is something that you either have or you don’t have. College can help you with basic courses like accounting, finance, and marketing, but in the end, you can pretty much go to any college and have the drive, ambition, vision and plan to make it on your own successfully.
If you look at the top entrepreneurs in the country, they come from a varied background and there’s no one school that’s common among them. Some are even dropouts, i.e. Bill Gates.
So, my recommendation is for you to earn your degree in a school that you can excel the most, and network like crazy during your college years.
First, you need to get your GPA to at least a 3.2 or plan on Junior College for your first two.
Decide what area that you have a passion for and then find a job in that field being a gopher or whatever. Watch, LISTEN and ask QUESTIONS.
In your first two years you aren’t going to learn anything about becoming an entreprenur. You will learn how to speak and write properly so that you can express your ideas clearly; take ALL the public speaking that you can.
I have GREAT respect for teachers at all levels, but all that most of them have ever done is to teach and they know NOTHING about risk management. They generally have NO idea how to take a concept to a product that people want to buy. There job is to simply teach you how to THINK and complete multiple tasks within a given time frame.
Look at Bill Gates, didn’t bother with college. The founder of Fed-X did a term paper on his concept and got a “C”. Ebay was started as a project so that his girlfriend could trade Pez Dispensers.
Go to work doing anything in your chosen field; if you want to own a hardware store get a job at Home Depot and then go work in the neighboorhood Ace. Learn the business and make MISTAKES on THEIR nickel so you don’t make them again when it is your life savings on the line.
Here are a couple examples to make my point plus some things to consider.
I have spent over 30 years in the electronics field doing everything from a production grunt to the president of my own company. Over the years I did every job except finance, built a solid reputation in sales and marketing and was pretty capable with the technical end.
I also left the industry to become a real estate investor to build retirement and shelter taxes.
In real estate I was solid with the aspects of buying and selling and built an $8,000 initial investment to just under $1M. What I missed was the market indicators and lost it all because of that fact.
I started my own business in electronics and built it from zero to just under $3M in 7 years. I hired a GREAT CFO to compensate for my weakness and it did well.
Now here is the downside to being a business owner.
In the beginning you will STARVE while you are working 20 hours a day 6 1/2 days a week. The government will constantly poke you with some new regulation, fee or tax. You also have your staff to think about; they put themselves and their family on the LINE to join you in the beginning and YOU OWE THEM BIG TIME. THAT IS A HUGE RESPONSIBILITY that many just don’t have the guts for. ALL of my TEAM knew to leave me ALONE on payrole day! The taxes, workers comp, insurance and all the hidden expenses of employees drove me NUTS.
I finally had enough and gave the business to the TEAM and went back to work for a company.
I had known the president for years but during the interview he said, “People that have been a president are generally a pain in the donkey because they are used to running the show”. I replied, “YOU run the show and take care of all the compliance crap and I will just do what you tell me with a little creativity”.
He hired me to essentially be his sounding board and build sales. Believe it or not, I was hired to tell my boss when he was “full of it”. I pretty much do as I like, he pays me well and the business has grown considerably; I am also more than 20 years his senior.
Here is the kicker! I never finished college; partial EE, partial BS in business and a partial MBA in marketing (my experience and jive talk got me into the MBA).
I traveled the world, met some AMAZING people (John Fluke, Dave Hewlet and Bill Packard, Ken Olsen and a bunch more)
They all ASSUMED that I HAD an MBA; I didn’t lie, but didn’t correct them either. I learned a TON from all of these GREAT MEN and applied it to my own business practices.
College is NECESSARY NOW and I might suggest something like National University or Univ. of Phoenix because they are NOT traditional schools.
The instructors are required to have actually worked in the field that they are teaching and only accept students that are working full time; no dorm and fraternity stuff, just HEAVY knowledge transfer!
Do the first two at JC at night while you work FULL time, maybe 9 units a semester and do your time. Your work will be your University! Then transfer to a “Working College” for the finishing touches. You will start to build a network and the instructors actually have done something other than teach for 30 plus years.
It is a business and EXPENSIVE, about $500 a month plus. It is like three nights a week (6-10) and a Saturday a month. They cram a single course into that month and you will do maybe an equal amount of time with homework and research papers. It will KICK YOUR DONKEY, but DAMN will you be READY.
I am GLAD that you are thinking ahead and if you want to ask specific questions, you can email me.
Good luck and get the GPA UP.
J