Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

Does It Help To Pursue A Degree In Entrepreneurship?

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 ?

Hello,

Yes, with a 622 rank in IPU CET for MBA and being a Delhi candidate, you have a good chance of getting admission in MAIT (Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology).

You don’t need to worry about not giving the CAT exam. IPU CET rank is enough for admission in MAIT under the CET quota.

Just make sure to keep MAIT high in your preference list during counselling.

Hope it helps !

Hello Aspirant,

Yes, you can do an MBA after the BPP B. com from IGNOU, provided that you meet the eligibility requirements of the university or college that runs the MBA program. The BPP (Bachelor's Preparatory Program) certificate from IGNOU, followed by the B. com degree is accepted as credentialed by most institutions, especially open universities and distance learning institutions. Programs of study that are full-time or ranked highly - generally MBA programs from reputed institutions such as IIMs or other rank recognized private B-schools - will typically require:

  • Credentialed Bachelor's degree (the B. com degree from IGNOU)
  • Entrance exam scores (examinations include, but are not limited to, CAT, MAT, XAT, and university specific tests)
  • Although not very common, some programs do ask for 10+2 qualification, so each university will have its own eligibility criteria requirements.

If you are looking for flexible or distance MBA programs, both IGNOU and some open universities like Symbiosis (SCDL), NMIMS Global, or Annamalai University, should also accept you as a student.

You're absolutely eligible to pursue an MBA in Bangalore or Mysore even if you completed your Intermediate through APOSS (Andhra Pradesh Open School Society) and your degree through regular mode.

Most MBA colleges—whether affiliated to universities like Bangalore University, VTU, or Mysore University—primarily require a recognized bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks (45% for reserved categories). Since you've completed your graduation through regular mode from a recognized university, that fulfills the key eligibility.

Your APOSS qualification is also valid as long as it’s recognized by the government and education boards, which it is. It might raise minor documentation or verification questions during admission, but it won’t disqualify you. You should carry all necessary original certificates including your APOSS pass certificate, transfer/migration certificate, and degree marksheets during admission or counselling.

Hello aspirant,
The OJEE integrated MBA cutoff is the rank range within which colleges offer admission post-counselling. For 2025, general category cutoffs varied by institute. For example, Gangadhar Meher College’s integrated MBA program opened at rank 411 and closed near 8,200. Overall expected closing ranks for general category fall roughly within 1,500 to 5,300 for popular programs and colleges. Reserved category students have a wider acceptance range based on their quotas.

These cutoffs are influenced by factors like difficulty, number of seats, and reservation. To secure a seat, aim to be within the closing rank of your target college, ideally around first 5,000–10,000 for general admission in top institutes.

Hello Aspirant

At SND College of Engineering and Research Centre Yeola Nashik the MBA program is available through its Department of Management which offers a 2 year postgraduate course with 180 seats. This institute is AICTE approved affiliated with Savitribai Phule Pune University and accredited by NAAC with B++ ensuring regulated quality standards.

Specializations offered by this college

  • Marketing Management

  • Financial Management

  • Human Resource Management

  • Operations and Supply Chain Management

  • Business Analytics

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