As presented in the inaugural LaunchPad Campus Director AMA in December, 2019, rankings and awards for your center are of great importance: They provide external validation of the work you’re doing. They raise the stature of your efforts in the university and local markets. And they provide an opportunity to seek additional funding - based on recognized success you’re already achieving. Though there are many rankings and awards available, perhaps the most significant for U.S. universities is the annual Princeton Review-Entrepreneur magazine ranking. (For universities in other countries, it may be the GCEC rankings.)

Since 2005 Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine have been surveying and ranking the top undergraduate and graduate schools for entrepreneurship studies. Based on data collected between June and August from more than 300 schools, the ranking sponsors name 50 undergraduate and 25 graduate schools as outstanding choices for students aspiring to become entrepreneurs.

In 2019 we were pleased to have four LaunchPad network schools appear in the undergraduate ranking: UT Dallas #13, UT Austin #14, Syracuse #19, Texas A&M #22; and five schools appear in the graduate ranking: UT Austin #11, UT Dallas #15, UC San Diego #22, Texas A&M #23, NYU #24.

In addition, since the origination of this leading list several competitor rankings, including a U.S. News ranking (based on business school deans and MBA directors surveys) and a Financial Times ranking (based on university alumni surveys) have sprung up. While all of these rankings have their benefits and imperfections, it remains worthwhile to gain a deeper understanding of what is measured and how they work - and how LaunchPad can help contribute to your schools’ scores.

We will be asking all of our U.S.-based LaunchPad Campus Directors to support and assist their schools in participating in this year’s Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine survey. In May we will ask for the primary university contact who collects and submits this data and in September we will request a copy of your university’s submission.

Elementary to the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine ranking are several sections, which are driven primarily by academic deans and university provost offices. These sections include questions regarding academic curriculum: majors, minors, courses, and enrollment. Similarly, questions about funding, university staffing, and student financial aid are also mostly beyond the operational focus of the LaunchPad network. (However, Blackstone Charitable Foundation grants to LaunchPad network schools and individual grants to LaunchPad network students should be counted in full towards these numbers.)

Beyond these areas, there are three sections to this ranking we believe LaunchPad can have a specific and significant impact:

1. Center/Programming. There are two question components to this section.
   1. The first is confirmation of a physical entrepreneurship center and its availability to students for study and entrepreneurial experience. Obviously, the LaunchPad network and support from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation support this element.
   2. The second question is around the percentage of students that have “developed an actionable plan with assumption testing to launch a business while at school.” It is critically important to track and communicate the number and names of students active in your LaunchPad in support of this effort.
2. Outside the Classroom. This section asks two questions about mentorship. 
   1. The first is whether the school offers “officially sponsored programs” where students are mentored “by individuals outside of the university”. From the LaunchPad perspective, this is accomplished through individual Blackstone and Techstars mentoring connections (via the mentor request link) as well as mentoring sessions during campus-specific or LaunchPad Global Startup Weekends. 
   2. The survey also asks how many individual mentors worked with students through officially sponsored school programs. Once again, it is important to be able to provide the number and names of students mentored as a result of LaunchPad in support of this data collection.
3. Competitions. Hosted by schools or program.
   1. This section asks a number of questions about types of programs and competitions (business plan/pitch events, hackathons, shark tanks, Startup Weekends, etc.), as well as details on the cash and in-kind prize amounts. Certainly, campus-based and  Global LaunchPad hosted and co-sponsored events, as well as details about these event prize values should be included in the total calculation.
   2. The survey also asks about the total dollar and in-kind amount won by students in competitions. This should include Startup Weekend, Propel, and Lift/Demo day winnings as well as any other adhoc grants and prizes provided throughout the year.

As mentioned, this May, we’ll be asking each U.S. LaunchPad Campus Director to determine and connect with the individual who will complete this survey. (If you are unable to determine this internally, you may choose to reach out to Stephen Koch at the Princeton Review: Stephen.Koch@review.com.) One final suggestion is to consider inviting this individual to join your LaunchPad Stewardship Council, if they are not already.

To see a more complete list of questions/topics in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine annual survey and ranking survey, please visit: https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/top-entrepreneur/methodology