Princeton Review ranks Entrepreneurship #1 in New Jersey, second year in a row!

Rowan University’s popular, growing, dynamic entrepreneurship program is once again ranked #1 in New Jersey!

The Princeton Review, which annually scores the top entrepreneurship programs in the country, today ranked Rowan’s program first in the Garden State for the second consecutive year. Nationally, the organization ranked the program #37, a 13-spot boost in four years.

For 2025, it also ranked Rowan’s entrepreneurship program, which is centered in the Rohrer College of Business (RCB), #4 in the Northeast (from #5 for 2024).

Varied degree options

The RCB’s School of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SIE) offers two undergraduate entrepreneurship majors – a Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship that’s based in the RCB and a B.S. in Engineering Entrepreneurship through the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering – along with an entrepreneurship minor and several interdisciplinary Certificates of Undergraduate Study (CUGS). Additionally, inter-college partnerships with the College of Performing Arts, the Ric Edelman College of Communication & Creative Arts, the Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine, and the School of Earth & Environment expand opportunities for students to think and act entrepreneurially.

For 2023-24, there were 459 students enrolled in SIE’s entrepreneurship offerings - up from 330 the previous year. Additionally, nearly ten percent of all Rowan’s undergraduate student body took at least one entrepreneurship course in the last year.

Rowan President Ali Houshmand has led a university-wide embrace of entrepreneurship that extends to all schools, colleges and campuses.

“We’re helping students see that entrepreneurship is not just a great degree but a mindset that can be applied to any walk of life,” said RCB Dean Matthew Sarkees, Ph.D.

Free credits; money to launch

In addition to its undergraduate curricula, Rowan’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (RCIE) hosts more than 120 annual programs that support aspiring entrepreneurs. They include Think Like an Entrepreneur, a summer academy for high school students that has awarded more than 1,000 free college credits; the Idea Challenge competition each fall in partnership with the Rowan Innovation Venture Fund, the Henry M. Rowan College of Engineering and the College of Science and Mathematics; and the New Venture Expo and Rohrer New Venture Competition each spring, the latter of which awards $30,000 to the most promising new business venture. In April, senior Anna Demasi received the top prize to launch Lunch Box Cards, a business inspired by her mother’s practice of making cards for Anna to take to school.

Over the past year, RCIE engaged with more than 550 students who developed actionable plans to launch a business and awarded $50,900 in cash prizes to student startups – a 17.3 percent increase from the previous academic year.

“We equip Rowan students with the tools and confidence to think and act entrepreneurially,” said RCIE Director Jessica Vattima. “By the time they graduate, our students are ready to innovate, to lead and to make a meaningful impact wherever they go.”

In compiling their list of the top programs, editors for The Princeton Review surveyed more than 300 colleges and universities that offer entrepreneurship studies.