The Top "Up-and-Coming" Universities in the United States

Many international applicants are only knowledgeable about (aka, obsessed with) a small number of colleges and universities in the United States.  MIT and UC Berkeley are wonderful schools that can provide a great education -- but the vast majority of undergraduate applicants will not be able to gain admission into these iconic schools.  The good news is that you do not have to go to MIT to get a very high quality education in the United States.  There are hundreds of excellent colleges and universities that have all the resources that any student could want.  However, sometimes you need to scratch beneath the surface to understand which schools really offer a great education and solid ROI.   

Below is a list of the best up-and-coming universities in the United States which might give potential undergraduate applicants some fresh ideas about possible schools for the upcoming application season. You may or may not have heard of some of these schools before – but you owe it to yourself to take a closer look at the unique value they provide to international students.

The Top Up-and-Coming Universities in the USA

Rank	School
#1	George Mason University  Fairfax, VA
#1	University of Maryland–​Baltimore County  Baltimore, MD
#3	Drexel University  Philadelphia, PA
#4	Arizona State University  Tempe, AZ
#5	University of Central Florida  Orlando, FL
#5	University of Southern California  Los Angeles, CA
#7	Clemson University  Clemson, SC
#7	Indiana University-​Purdue University–​Indianapolis  Indianapolis, IN
#7	Northeastern University  Boston, MA
#10	Portland State University  Portland, OR
#11	Purdue University–​West Lafayette  West Lafayette, IN
#12	Tulane University  New Orleans, LA
#13	University of Denver  Denver, CO
#14	University of Arkansas  Fayetteville, AR
#14	University of San Diego  San Diego, CA
#16	Biola University  La Mirada, CA
#16	North Carolina State University–​Raleigh  Raleigh, NC
#16	Ohio State University–​Columbus  Columbus, OH
#16	Virginia Commonwealth University  Richmond, VA

- Source: Forbes

When selecting your school list, it is important to strike a balance between cost, quality, future prospects for employment, and other intangible factors. When you create your “game plan” for the upcoming application season, be sure to have at least two or three schools which fall into the ‘match’ and ‘safety’ categories. Consider some of these schools above for your ‘match’ and ‘reach’ choices, and you’ll be in the good company of outstanding students regardless of which of these schools you choose to attend.

If you would like any help talking through the pros and cons of the undergraduate schools listed here, or making the decision about which schools are right to apply to, feel free to reach me at david@transcendadmissions.com.

2010-2013 Application Results!

The last three years have been extremely rewarding - especially because of the great relationships we have established with our clients.  After reviewing the list of admissions below, we can think if some incredibly determined and talented people that truly turned their dreams into a reality.

We are very much looking forward to the next three years as well!

_________________________________________________

school name / program	number of clients admitted	scholarships
United States MBA
Penn (Wharton)	1
Northwestern (Kellogg)	3
Chicago (Booth)	1	1
Dartmouth (Tuck)	1
Michigan (Ross) MBA	9	2
Michigan (Ross) GMBA	7
Cornell (Johnson)	6
Duke (Fuqua)	5
Duke Cross-Continent MBA	2	1
UCLA (Anderson)	1
Virginia (Darden)	1	1
UT Austin (McCombs)	4
Carnegie Mellon (Tepper)	4	2
UNC (Kenan-Flagler)	4	1
Georgetown (McDonough)	11	1
Emory (Goizueta)	2	1
USC (Marshall) MBA	5
USC IBEAR	4	2
Washington (Olin)	4	1
Indiana (Kelley)	5	1
Minnesota (Carlson)	1
Washington (Foster)	2
Ohio State (Fisher)	2
Boston University	5	3
Wisconsin	1	1
Boston College (Carroll)	1	1
Rice (Jones)	1	1
UC Davis	1
UC Irvine (Merage)	2	2
University of Illinois (UIUC)	6	4
Penn State (Smeal)	2	2
Maryland (Smith)	2
Arizona State (Carey)	1	1
Purdue (Krannart)	2	1
Johns Hopkins (Carey)	1
Rochester (Simon)	2	1
George Washington	2	2
Fordham University	1
SMU (Cox)	1	1
SUNY Buffalo	1
Virginia Tech	1
UT Dallas	2	2
UC San Diego  (Rady)	3	1
Georgia (Terry)	1	1
Thunderbird School of Global Management	1
Case Western Reserve (Weatherhead)	1
University of Colorado	1	1
University of Nevada - Las Vegas (UNLV)	1
University of Illinois - Chicago	1
Non-US MBA
INSEAD	4
Oxford (Said)	1
Cambridge (Judge)	1	1
HEC Paris	2
IESE	3	3
ESADE	1	1
Rotterdam School of Management (RSM)	5
CEIBS	4	1
Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)	2	1
Hong Kong University (HKU)	2
National University of Singapore (NUS)	3	1
University of Toronto (Rotman)	1
Hult International Business School	1	1
Cass Business School	1
GISMA / Purdue	2	1
TiasNimbas	1
Master in Management
London Business School (LBS) - Master in Management (MIM)	1
HEC Paris - Master in Management (MIM)	2
ESCP Europe - Master in Management	1
Duke (Fuqua) - Master in Management (MIM)	2
Rochester (Simon) - MS in Business Administration	1
Master in Supply Chain Management
MIT - Master in Supply Chain Management	1
Georgia Tech - MS in Supply Chain Engineering	1
Maryland (Smith) - MS in Business (Supply Chain Management)	1
Master in Technology Management
University of Illinois (UIUC) - Master in Technology Management  (MSTM)	3
NYU (Poly) - MS in Management of Technology	1
UT Austin (McCombs) - MS in Technology Commericialization	1
Warwick - MSc in International Technology Management	1
Master in Finance
London Business School (LBS) - Masters in Finance (MiF)	1
London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) - MSc in Accounting and Finance	1
Illinois (UIUC) - Master in Finance (MSF)	3
Maryland (Smith) - MS in Business (Finance)	1
George Washington - Master in Finance (MSF)	3
Washington (Olin) - MS in Computational Finance & Risk Management	1
Washington (Olin) & Singapore Mgmt University - MS in Global Finance (dual degree)	1
Illinois Instituate of Technology (Stuart) (MSF)	1
Tulane (Freeman) (MSF)	1
Master in Accounting
University of Illinois (UIUC) - Master of Accounting Science (MAS)	3
University of Virginia (McIntire) - MS in Accounting (MSA)	1
Boston College (Carroll) - MS in Accounting (MSA)	1
U. Washington - Master of Professional Accounting (MPAcc)	1
Purdue (Krannart) - Masters of Science (Accounting)	1
Maryland (Smith) - MS in Business (Accounting)	1
UT-Dallas - MS in Accounting (MSA)	1
Michigan State (Broad) - MS in Accounting (MSA)	1
Washington University (Olin) - Master of Accounting (MACC)	1
SUNY Binghamton - MS in Accounting (MSA)	1
University of Pittsburgh (Katz) - MS in Accounting (MAcc)	1	1
Master in Marketing/Communications
Northwestern (Medill) - Master in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)	6
NYU - Master in Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)	2
USC (Annenberg) - MA in Global Communication and LSE MSc in Global Media and Communications (dual degree)	1
Imperial College - MSc in Strategic Marketing	1
Master in Public Policy
USC (Price) - MS in International Public Policy & Management (IPPAM)	1
Master in Sport Management
U. Michigan - MS in Sport Management	1
UMass (Isenberg) - MS in Sport Management	1
Master in Tourism / Hospitality Management
NYU - MS in Tourism Management	1
Cornell/Nanyang - Master in Hospitality Management	1
George Washington - Master in Tourism Administration	1
Master in Urban Planning & Environmental Studies
Harvard (Graduate School of Design) - (MUP)	1
Michigan (Taubman) - (MUP)	2
Columbia (Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation) - (MSCP)	1
Cornell (Department of City and Regional Planning) - (MRP)	1
U. of Pennsylvania (School of Design) - (MCP)	1
U. of Pennsylvania (LPS) - Master of Environmental Studies	1
Duke (Nicholas) - School of the Environment (MEM)	1
UT Austin - MS in Community and Regional Planning	1
U. Wisconsin - Master in Regional and Urban Planning	1
Master in Human Resources
NYU (SCPS) - Master in Business and Workplace Education	1
Minnesota (Carlson) - MA in Human Resources and Industrial Relations (HRIR)	1
Master in Fashion & Design Management
London College of Fashion (LCF) - MSc in International Fashion Retail Program	1
London College of Fashion (LCF) - MSc in Design Management	1
Undergraduate
Duke University	1
PhD
University of South Carolina - PhD in Business Administration	1
University of Houston - PhD in Finance	1	1
University of Cincinnati - PhD in Finance	1
Law
American University (Washington College of Law) - (LLM)	1
University of Maryland (School of Law) (LLM)	1
Tulane University (Law School) - (LLM)	1
Yeshiva University (Cardozo School of Law) - (LLM)	1
NCCU (College of Law) - Doctorial Program in International Business Law	1

Top Entrepreneurial Undergraduate Universities

While many students do not have a clear idea of what they would like to study in college or what they want to do with their future careers, there are a select few students who clearly know they want to go into business.

Taiwan has a rich history of entrepreneurship and family business, and for students who have entrepreneurial blood running through their veins, it may be a good idea to consider attending an ‘entrepreneurial college’ to give yourself further insight into the skills and knowledge required to help catapult your family business or personal venture to the next level.

Listed below is a list of the top twenty most entrepreneurial colleges in the United States along with notes on some of their most distinguished entrepreneurial alumni. Keep your future network in mind when considering which colleges you will apply to!

1. Stanford University

Richard Fairbank (B.A. ’72, M.B.A. ’81) is the founder and CEO of Capital One Financial. (2011 revenue: $18.5 billion).

2. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

According to a 2011 report from MIT’s Sloan School of Management, as of 2006 there were 25,600 active companies founded by MIT alumni, employing approximately 3.3 million people.

3. Harvard University

Harvard has produced 10 self-made billionaires, more than any other school on this list. Billionaire grads include Steve Ballmer (’77), Phil Falcone (’84) and Sumner Redstone (’44).

4. California Institute of Technology

Charles Trimble (B.S. ’63, M.B.A. ’64) cofounded Trimble Navigation (2011 revenue: $1.6 billion), which makes GPS products, including devices for delivery trucks and military jets.

5. University of California, Berkeley

This past spring Weili Dai (’84), cofounder of the Marvell Technology Group (2011 net revenue: $3.4 billion), was the first woman to give the commencement speech at the college of engineering.

6. University of Pennsylvania

Elon Musk (’97) founded SpaceX in 2002, which has approximately $4 billion in contracts, including a large one with NASA. Musk also cofounded Tesla Motors and PayPal.

7. Dartmouth College

In 2004 Steve Hafner (’91) cofounded Kayak, a travel site (2011 revenues: $225 million).

8. University of California, Los Angeles

Allen Adham and his 1990 classmates Michael Morhaime and Frank Pearce cofounded Blizzard Entertainment in 1991, makers of the online videogame World of Warcraft, which in 2010 had over 12 million players worldwide.

9. Princeton University

Jeff Bezos, who launched Amazon.com when he was 31, was a member of the class of 1986.

10. Haverford College

Despite its tiny size (the average class has 294 students), nearly 300 alumni describe ­themselves as entrepreneurs.

11. Yale University

The Yale Entrepreneurial Institute has nurtured 52 companies that have raised a total of  OK a total of $45 million in funding since 2007.

12. Babson College

13. Brown University

Steven Rattner, cofounder of the Quadrangle Group, graduated from Brown in 1974.

14. Northwestern University

Sixty-three percent of Northwestern students claim they want to start their own businesses.

15. Harvey Mudd College

The school is named for Harvey Seeley Mudd, who cofounded Cyprus Mines, a copper mining concern, in the early 1900s with his father.

16. Swarthmore College

John Montgomery (’77), founder and partner of Bridgeway Capital Management, manages over $2 billion in assets.

17. Claremont McKenna College

LBO king Henry Kravis (net worth: $4 billion) was a 1967 graduate of the college.

18. Amherst College

John Abele (’59) cofounded medical device giant Boston Scientific in 1979 (2011 sales: $7.6 billion).

19. Williams College

AOL cofounder Steve Case (net worth: $1.5 billion) graduated from Williams in 1980.

20. Hampshire College

Yogurtmaker Stonyfield Farm (2011 sales: $360 million) was founded by Gary Hirshberg (’72).

- Source: Forbes

Many students in Taiwan have aspirations of studying abroad, gaining insight and experience in western culture, and using what they have learned to help their business and country grow to the next level. If you are considering entrepreneurship in the future, or think you would like to go into business or continue your family’s business at some point in your career – these colleges may each be well suited to your needs.

If you would like any help talking through the pros and cons of the entrepreneurial undergraduate schools in the US, or making the decision about which schools are right to apply to, feel free to reach me at david@transcendadmissions.com.