Penn State ranked No. 39 nationally for undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the 2027 rankings released Nov. 10 by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine. Credit: Michael Owen / Penn State . Creative Commons
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State has once again been ranked among the top 50 schools nationally for undergraduate entrepreneurship studies by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine, placing No. 39 nationally in the 2027 rankings, which were released Nov. 10. Among schools in the Mid-Atlantic region, Penn State ranked No. 3.
The 2027 rankings are based on a survey the Princeton Review conducted in summer 2026 of administrators at more than 300 schools offering entrepreneurship studies in the U.S. and internationally. The education services company's methodology for the rankings considers more than 40 data points, including academic offerings, faculty credentials, mentorship, competitions hosted by schools, and scholarships and aid.
Penn State's ranking was based on 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 ; the Engineering Entrepreneurship (E-SHIP) program in the College of Engineering ; the Sheetz Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence ; and the Penn State Altoona Entrepreneurship minor .
Based on publicly available funding information reported to the Princeton Review, Penn State alumni who participated in one or more of these programs collectively raised $637,500 for their businesses over the past five years and $64,995,500 over the past 10 years. These figures do not include private or other financing that was not publicly disclosed.
A total of 5,596 students from 134 majors enrolled in at least one entrepreneurship course offered through the ENTI minor or the CIENT major during the 2025-26 academic year.
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, 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, reinventing current businesses, supporting a family business, or starting new businesses with the intent of growing the economy and providing jobs for a diverse workforce.
In addition to 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 the classroom to jump-start their entrepreneurial endeavors. Together, these opportunities and academic programs help students apply classroom learning to entrepreneurial ventures, supported by resources and expertise across Penn State's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
A signature program of Invent Penn State is the LaunchBox & Innovation Network , which includes 24 LaunchBoxes and innovation spaces embedded in communities across Pennsylvania. These spaces offer no-cost resources such as accelerator programs, mentor expertise, coworking 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. During the 2025-26 academic year, Penn State pitch competitions, including the Invent Penn State Inc.U Competition and LionCage Pitch Competition , awarded a total of $196,200 to undergraduate startups.
In addition to the Princeton Review ranking, Penn State tied for No. 34 in PitchBook's 2026 ranking of the top 100 universities worldwide for undergraduate alumni founders of venture-backed companies. The ranking is based on the number of undergraduate alumni founders whose companies received venture capital funding over the past decade. PitchBook analyzed educational information from more than 222,000 venture-backed founders.
The full rankings and methodology from the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine are available online.
Invent Penn State is a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. The initiative empowers students, founders and communities to turn bold ideas into businesses, careers and opportunities across Pennsylvania. Through its 24-location LaunchBox & Innovation Network , Invent Penn State provides business coaching, accelerator programs, coworking space, mentorship and other resources to help entrepreneurs and innovators bring ideas to life.
Invent Penn State is financed in part by a grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development.