Babson College Ranked No. 1 in Entrepreneurship by U.S. News & World Report for Unprecedented 17th Time

WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For an unprecedented 17th consecutive time, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Babson College's undergraduate school #1 in Entrepreneurship. 

Babson continues to set the standard for entrepreneurship education, followed by a strong group of institutions, including University of Southern California, MIT, Indiana University and University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, U.S. News ranks Babson No. 34 among the top undergraduate business programs in the country. Babson's presence in the Top 40 of a list dominated almost entirely by large, national universities is further evidence of the College's leadership position in business education. 

"We celebrate these rankings as yet another clear indication that our unique approach—and the positive impact it prepares our students to make in the world—continues to earn the admiration and respect of our peers," said Babson President Kerry Healey. 

"We look forward to sharing even more good news in the near future as these new programs launch and continue to transform the experiential learning opportunities only Babson provides," said Babson's newly appointed Undergraduate School Dean Scott Moore. 

As Babson kicks-off the new academic year, the College is again pushing the envelope and leading the market by taking the Babson experience to yet another level. Building on Babson's groundbreaking programs and offerings in Entrepreneurial Thought and Action®, it is launching the following new programs and initiatives this fall: 

• Unveiling FME 2.0. Babson is rolling out a redesigned curriculum for its award-winning Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course in which all first-year students work in teams to invent, develop, launch, and manage a real business. Through this yearlong immersion into the business world, all Babson students experience the ins and outs of entrepreneurship, marketing, accounting, organizational behavior, and operations, while emphasizing the integrated role these functions have in a business.
• Establishing the first incubator program for women. Through Babson's Center for Women's Entrepreneurial Leadership, Babson has established The Women Innovating Now Lab (The WIN Lab), a unique, year-long program designed to empower women students and alumnae to build their entrepreneurial ventures.
• Breaking ground on a new Living/Learning Residence Hall for first-year students. Next month, Babson plans to break ground on the final residence hall in the Park Manor Quad, providing centralized space for undergraduate students, affording them more opportunities for spontaneous interaction and collaboration in the heart of the Babson campus.
• Introducing new Business Analytics concentrations. Babson has established a Business Analytics concentration for undergraduate and graduate students to teach students more advanced skills and techniques applied to discipline-specific and more general business problems. The concentration encompasses data management processes, such as data collection, validation, and organization, as well as analytical techniques, such as statistics, optimization, predictive modeling, forecasting, and visualization.
• Enhancing our arts offerings. This month, Babson welcomed the renowned Commonwealth Shakespeare Company to campus as Babson's resident theater company. Through this collaboration, Babson brings world-class resources to our arts and culture offerings, strengthening and enhancing our Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® experience.

Full results of U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2014 are available at www.usnews.com. 

How U.S. News Ranks Undergraduate Business Programs 
In the spring of 2013, U.S. News surveyed deans and senior faculty at all undergraduate business programs accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Participants were asked to rate the quality of programs with which they're familiar on a scale of 1 (marginal) to 5 (distinguished); 36 percent of those surveyed responded. The undergrad business rankings are based solely on this peer survey. Deans and faculty, two per school, also were asked to nominate the 10 best programs in a number of specialty areas; the five schools receiving the most mentions in each appear. 

About Babson College 
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader for Entrepreneurship of All Kinds™. The College is a dynamic living and learning laboratory, where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society -- while at the same time evolving our methods and advancing our programs. We shape the leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to create economic and social value. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. For more information, visit www.babson.edu​.​​​​​​​​​​​

SOURCE Babson College