��������

(New Orleans – March 30, 2021) New Orleans is a nationally-recognized entrepreneurial activity hub and the business programs at �������� reflect that. In the 2022 ranking for Best Graduate Entrepreneurship Programs by U.S.��News and World Report, �������� ranks 14th in the nation among other top universities, up six spots and tied with St. Louis University, the University of Chicago and University of Santa Clara Marshall School of Business.��

This marks the second year running that Loyola’s Entrepreneurship Program makes the nation’s Top 20. In other good news: Loyola’s international business program ranks 26th in the nation this year, tied with Babson College, Cornell, University of Miami, and UNC Chapel Hill.

The Top 20 ranking recognizes the curricular and extracurricular programs run in concert by the Office of Graduate Programs of the College of Business and the Loyola Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development. Rival graduate business programs named in the annual list released this spring include programs at Babson, Stanford, MIT, Cal-Berkeley, Harvard, Penn, and Michigan. Not only are the quality of Loyola’s programs on par with those offered by larger, more nationally recognized institutions, there is a lot of value in the features that make the program distinct.��

Loyola’s program tends to be more affordable than its counterparts, the class schedules more accommodating of students with full-time jobs (courses take place in the evenings), and the class sizes are smaller. Furthermore, students pursuing the Entrepreneurship specialization in Loyola New Orleans’ MBA program develop close ties with their peers, a network of mentors from local investment funds and incubator programs, as well as founders from across the region.��

“I’m very proud of the faculty and staff who have worked diligently to create a program that genuinely challenges students and exposes them to entrepreneurship and innovation across many different domains. I am also proud of the students who have done so incredibly well after graduation. We designed the kind of program we would have liked to attend as students, and I’m delighted it has been recognized for its quality,” says Felipe G. Massa, Ph.D., faculty director of the Loyola New Orleans Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development.

Students in the Entrepreneurship program at Loyola New Orleans have access to classes that emphasize experiential learning from multiple perspectives: founder, investor, and consultant. Students begin by taking the founder’s perspective and launching their own business in a single semester. That experience is built upon as they take a class on Venture Capital and Private Equity investing, wherein the investor lens allows them to better understand what it takes to make it through many rounds of funding and what makes for a winning startup idea.��

�������� has partnered with government agencies, including NASA and the National Security Agency (NSA), as well as corporate partners, to expose students to the theory and practice of technology commercialization. In these LaunchPad partnership programs, student teams are paired with inventors who wish to commercialize their ideas but lack the business background to make their ideas marketable; they help to identify viable new business ideas and develop them. Finally, every year, Loyola students participate in a national startup consulting competition called IDEAcorps, where small teams of MBA students compete to see who can most “move the needle” for a startup in a weeklong, New Orleans-style festival celebrating the entrepreneurial spirit.��

“Loyola’s MBA students truly benefit from the New Orleans entrepreneurial scene as they are able to apply the concepts learned in our classrooms immediately in the field while enrolled in our program. Taking the Jesuit value of experiential learning to heart, our faculty coach our students as they become consultants for real entrepreneurs within our community. It is a real treat to not only witness our students' growth and progression as they advance through the curriculum, but also to see local entrepreneurs succeed with our students by their sides,” says Christina Morales, director of the MBA program at ��������.

U.S. News and World Report computes rankings based on several factors. First, business school deans rate each college based on a peer assessment score, and then corporate recruiters and company contacts assess each college. The ranking also considers placement success for their recent graduates, considering mean starting salary and employment rates for full-time MBA program graduates. Finally, the US News and World Report takes the average GMAT/GRE scores along with GPA. Overall, the two heaviest weighted factors are the program’s employment rate and the peer assessment score from other deans.��

All in all, a Top 20 ranking from U.S. News and World Report signals that the �������� Entrepreneurship and Innovation Graduate program is highly respected by its peers due to the professional successes of its graduates.

"Through its active community engagement, the Loyola entrepreneurship program offers students real-world, hands-on experience which when coupled with its exceptional academic instruction provides them a solid foundation for success," said Bara Watts, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Loyola.��

If you are interested in hearing more about Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Loyola or about joining our MBA program please visit our website, attend an open house, or reach out directly to staff in the program by emailing mba@loyno.edu.
��