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Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Edited By Team Careers360 | Updated on Apr 14, 2023 09:01 AM IST | #MBA

Salary is the drug they give you to forget your dreams. This phrase has become quite popular amongst today's youth who want to chase jobs with independence and a higher purpose than one with just a higher salary. Many surveys have revealed the changing needs of people today to reflect the growing transition to pursue entrepreneurship as a long-term career.

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?
Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

If you are wandering the same path, thinking about whether entrepreneurship is the right career choice for you and whether doing a formal degree helps the cause, let us help you find the answer.

Do entrepreneurs really require a degree?

Entrepreneurship is a practical field, so why does anybody need a degree? The question is correct, but not to a larger extent.

Entrepreneurship requires domain knowledge of fields ranging from finance, technology, and marketing to hiring. It needs a solid theoretical understanding of the functions that must be executed. Hence, an entrepreneur is expected to know the basics of these subjects to run the business smoothly.

A degree helps to understand the subjects from a foundational perspective so that entrepreneurs can get the required knowledge to know how a small business works. It becomes the launchpad to kickstart an entrepreneur's journey.

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Still not convinced? Let us talk about what degrees teach.

What Do Entrepreneurship Degrees Teach You?

Degrees in entrepreneurship cover aspects from idea generation to post-funding scalability. Let us understand this with the curriculum of the majority of such courses:

  • Identifying and building new business opportunities
  • Building an MVP or prototype of the product
  • Pricing models for monetisation
  • Growth marketing to reach customers
  • Understanding key business ratios to achieve profitability
  • Learn business modelling and financial planning
  • Raising funds from angel investors and VCs
  • Managing self and team
  • GST, TDS and legal compliances
  • Effective business leadership and communication
  • How to blitzscale smoothly?

The entrepreneurship course covers the background data of building a startup from an idea to a scalable business proposition. It helps a first-time entrepreneur understand the challenges and pain points of building a successful startup from scratch.

But more than giving the theoretical framework of running a company, a formal degree does help in getting some other added advantages. Let us understand that in detail:

Other Benefits Of An Entrepreneurship Degree

Large Network Of Students: The benefit of doing a degree course is the access to an extensive network of students that someone gets. These students may be your co-founders, customers or even early investors for your startup. Your NetworkNetwork is your net worth in entrepreneurship.

Diversity of the Class: The beauty is the diversity of the class in a BBA/MBA class. The students are from different backgrounds and fields and bring a wide array of experiences. As wisely said, humans are the best books to read. Every experience and every lesson in the journey counts. You might also interact with students globally and understand the global landscape and the problems, which will help you while going global. These lessons are a goldmine and become a base learning ground for anyone aiming to become an entrepreneur. For example - If you are from a commerce background, you might get the opportunity to meet with engineers and learn the facets of emerging technologies from them.

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Incubation/Funding Support: Many colleges offering entrepreneurship offer incubation and funding support to students. This support includes but is not limited to office space, mentorship support, equity-free grants and strategic partnership opportunities with relevant customer groups and institutions. For example - The incubators at IIT Bombay and IIM Ahmedabad have been some of the top incubators mentoring and funding early-stage startups, which the college students run.

Brand Image of an Alumni: A brand image helps in many ways to establish the trust and credibility of the founder. Though it may not be the deciding factor, a good college background puts the entrepreneur on a higher pedestal in the business world. And the best part is that the brand image is everlasting, so it can be used to an advantage anytime, especially for first-time founders.

What-Do-Entrepreneurship-Degrees-Teach-YouEntrepreneurship requires domain knowledge of fields ranging from finance, technology, and marketing to hiring.

Change of Surroundings: A startup journey is very challenging, and there are several times an entrepreneur is stuck in it. Issues may be dynamic, ranging from commercialisation and funding to the supply chain and distribution of the product/service. A change in surroundings does help to release some of that pressure building in the mind of an entrepreneur. Pausing in your journey and going to study entrepreneurship enables you to get back to things from a fresh perspective later on.

High-Pressure Environment: A college perfectly creates a high-pressure environment with assignments, projects, vivas, and exam preparations - all done in a super-crunched timeline. The urge to excel from peers builds up even more pressure from the inside. A student who learns the art of prioritising goals and managing their time has the potential to go ahead and become a great businessperson.

Get A Creative Edge: The course also throws various practical assignments to you. From creating your pitch deck to interviewing a successful entrepreneur, the degree helps you get a creative edge in completing your tasks and projects.

After all - Entrepreneurship is all about creativity and innovation. Isn't it?

The benefits are well-rounded and boost a business journey from every lens. But, it is time to be the Devil's advocate and look at some of the cons that might put an overall thought to your decision.

Cons of doing an Entrepreneurship Degree

Lack of Monetary Support: Since entrepreneurship is a specialised course, the course fees are higher than any other regular course. A person lacking a solid financial background or monetary support would find it hard to afford it.

Time Off The Business: An entrepreneurship course (BBA or MBA) requires a lot of time and attention to the class and the myriad of assignments a student gets along the way. Though the course teaches the value of time management, that time is still from when you could be doing your business. There is always the opportunity cost you are chasing - learning on your own or through a degree.

Not Much For Second-time Founders: The course may not be helpful for a second-time founder who has already run a startup in the past. They would already have the Network, wherewithal and requisite knowledge. They may find little value in the degree.

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Understanding both sides of the table would help you decide whether to pursue a degree in entrepreneurship. Either way, entrepreneurship is about learning and unlearning new things outside your comfort zone. Developing the right mindset to think as an entrepreneur would help in entrepreneurship and life. The definition of an entrepreneur is someone who assesses risk and leverages it to make the best use of an opportunity at hand. Isn't it something supposed to be done in life too?

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Questions related to MBA

Have a question related to MBA ?

Thanks for reaching out. A CGPA of 6.64 is decent, and you’re eligible for many MBA colleges, especially if you’ve also given an entrance test like CAT, MAT, or your state-level MBA entrance.

Here are some MBA colleges you can consider:

  • Private Colleges like KIIT School of Management, Amity University, IMS Ghaziabad.
  • State Universitie  like Osmania University (if you’re from Telangana), MAKAUT (West Bengal), or Pune University (for MH CET MBA).
  • AICTE-approved colleges: Many mid-tier colleges accept students based on graduation marks and entrance score combinations.

If your entrance test scores are low, try colleges with direct admission or management quota. Just ensure the college has good faculty, placements, and reviews. It’s better to focus on skill-building and internships during your MBA to get good placement outcomes.

To check more MBA colleges you can visit this link below;

https://bschool.careers360.com/colleges/list-of-mba-colleges-in-india

All the best for your MBA journey!

Hello,

You’re right that MEXT rarely offers direct MBA scholarships. MEXT is more research-focused. However, here’s what many students do:

1. You can apply for a research program under MEXT, ideally in a business or management-related field.

2. Once in Japan, build rapport with professors and perform well during your research year.

3. Then, you can apply for a degree switch from research to a regular degree like MBA with your professor’s support.

4. If the university agrees and MEXT approves, you can continue as a full-time MBA student under the same scholarship.

This path is not guaranteed, but it has worked for many students. Just choose a university that offers MBA programs in English, like Hitotsubashi, Ritsumeikan, or NUCB.

Hope you will find it helpful!

Hello Aspirant,

Both SRM KTR and Jain CMS B-School offer their own advantages, and your choice will depend on what you value most. SRM KTR has a strong academic reputation and has better infrastructure than Jain CMS B-School; however, Jain´s location in a business city could offer more industry exposure. If alumni and campus life are important to you, SRM is a good choice. If placement and networking are more important, Jain could be better.

If you’ve given the MAT exam and want admission in an MBA program through government colleges in Kolkata, here’s what you need to know:

Several government or government-aided institutes in Kolkata accept MAT scores for MBA admission. However, most top government colleges in West Bengal prefer CMAT, CAT, or JEMAT scores. That said, some colleges may consider MAT scores in specific quotas or for leftover seats.

Though you can consider:

  • Bengal Institute of Business Studies (semi-government)

  • NSHM Knowledge Campus (Kolkata)

  • Institute of Engineering and Management (IEM) – sometimes considered semi-govt/private

  • Army Institute of Management (for defense background)

For purely government institutes like Calcutta University (Dept. of Business Management) or IISWBM, MAT is usually not accepted — they require CAT or JEMAT.

Hello,

The Goutami Colleges charge INR 70,000 to INR 90,000 for a two-year MBA program. If you want more data about fees, you can directly ask the college authorities; they will give a full in-depth guide about the fee structure in this case. It's also college approved by AICTE. You need to take the TSICET exam, and then based on its merit, you can get admission.

I hope it resolves your query!!


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