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A master’s in entrepreneurship is a specialization degree, and the people who get the most from it are those who arrive with something to specialize. That usually means one of three things: a bachelor’s in a non-business field – engineering, science, design, health – plus a venture idea that grows out of it; several years of professional experience and a plan to found, buy, or grow a business; or a role inside a larger company that involves launching new products or ventures and a need for the finance, strategy, and process skills to do it well. For a student straight out of a business bachelor’s with no venture in mind, the master’s adds less than the price implies.
The degree comes in two main forms. A Master of Science in Entrepreneurship is a focused 30- to 36-credit program built almost entirely around venture creation and growth. An MBA with an entrepreneurship concentration is a general management degree – typically larger, with a full graduate business core – that adds three to five entrepreneurship electives. The choice between them turns on whether you want the venture toolkit or the general management credential, and this page explains how to decide.
It is a graduate program in the creation, financing, and growth of new ventures, delivered through online coursework. Typical content includes opportunity evaluation, business model design, venture finance and valuation, entrepreneurial marketing, growth strategy, corporate entrepreneurship, and an applied venture project or practicum.
The MS is shorter and concentrates entirely on venture creation; it suits people with a specific venture plan or a non-business bachelor’s who want the founder toolkit without a full management core. The MBA is the general management credential, valued by employers across industries, with entrepreneurship as a minority of the coursework. If you might want a conventional senior management role later, the MBA is more portable. If you intend to found or grow a business and already have a business foundation, the MS is more efficient.
An MS in entrepreneurship typically runs 30 to 36 semester hours, commonly one year full-time or two years part-time. An MBA with an entrepreneurship concentration usually runs larger – often 36 to 54 credits depending on how much of the business core can be waived – and takes correspondingly longer.
No. Many programs are designed for students from technical, scientific, creative, and health backgrounds who have a venture idea rooted in their field. Some require or recommend foundation coursework in accounting and finance for applicants without prior business study, delivered as short prerequisite modules before the core begins.
People with a specific venture in progress or in mind, professionals moving into corporate innovation or new-venture leadership, people planning to acquire or take over a family or small business, and career changers from non-business fields who want business and venture skills in a single credential. If your goal is a first business job with no venture plan, a bachelor’s plus experience usually serves better than a master’s.
A completed bachelor’s degree, transcripts, a resume, and a statement of purpose are standard. Many programs are test-optional or waive the GMAT for applicants with professional experience. Some ask for a short description of a venture idea or a problem you want to work on, and some request letters of recommendation.
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS). To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked against schools at the same credential level:
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score. Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:Accreditor: Middle States Commission on Higher EducationIPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
Source:IPEDSCollege Scorecard
| Course Topic | What You Learn |
|---|---|
| Opportunity Evaluation | Sizing a market, assessing competitive dynamics, and deciding whether an idea deserves capital and a year of your life |
| Business Model Design & Validation | Structured customer discovery, revenue and cost architecture, unit economics, and evidence-based pivot decisions |
| Venture Finance & Valuation | Sources of capital from bootstrapping to venture funds, term sheets, capitalization tables, dilution, valuation methods, and investor expectations |
| Entrepreneurial Marketing & Growth | Positioning, early customer acquisition, pricing, channel strategy, and scaling from first customers to a repeatable sales process |
| Corporate Entrepreneurship & Innovation | How established companies launch new ventures internally, how to build and defend a business case, and how innovation is governed |
| Entrepreneurial Strategy & Scaling | Competitive strategy for new entrants, hiring and organization design, and managing the transition from founder-led to professionally managed |
| Legal & Ethical Issues for Founders | Entity choice, intellectual property, founder agreements, employment, and the ethical questions that arise when equity and control are at stake |
| Venture Practicum or Capstone | Building and pitching a venture, consulting to an existing small business, or an applied innovation project inside your employer |
Outcomes vary by program, but you can compare:
For pacing and delivery comparisons, see: How Online Entrepreneurship Degrees Work
Requirements vary by school, but most programs require a completed bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Common elements include transcripts, a resume, and a statement of purpose. Programs built for working professionals often weigh experience heavily, and many waive standardized tests for applicants with several years of work history or a demonstrated venture record. Some ask you to describe a venture idea, a problem you want to solve, or a business you intend to acquire, and they weigh that more heavily than undergraduate grades from years earlier.
Applicants without a business background are not excluded; in many programs they are the majority. Engineers, scientists, clinicians, designers, and creatives enter these programs specifically to add business and venture skills to a technical foundation. Expect foundation modules in accounting, finance, and statistics if you have not completed them before, and ask admissions directly what they expect rather than inferring it from the catalog.
A bachelor’s in entrepreneurship is the credential that opens the field: it contains the full business core and the venture-creation sequence and it meets the education requirement for the business roles most graduates enter. A master’s is pursued to add venture skills to a non-business foundation, to move into corporate innovation leadership, to prepare for a specific venture or acquisition, or to compete for positions where a graduate degree is a stated preference. Management analysts, the consulting occupation many entrepreneurship master’s graduates enter, had a median annual wage of $101,860 (BLS OEWS, May 2025), and general and operations managers had a median of $105,770 (BLS OEWS, May 2025); both roles are typically reached through experience, with education functioning as one factor among several rather than a substitute for it.
Compare degree options:
For a value and fit discussion, see: Is an Online Entrepreneurship Degree Worth It. For the general management alternative, see the MBA Program Guide; for the corporate innovation path, see the Innovation Program Guide.
Data verified: August 25, 2026. Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
Back to Online Entrepreneurship Degrees: Programs & Careers (2026)
