Top 10 MBA Programs for Working at a Startup

MBA candidates at the MIT Sloan School of Management can receive a $5,000 stipend through the MIT Sloan Social Impact Fellowship to help them cover their living expenses while working for a startup, which tend to pay lower salaries than other organizations like consulting firms or financial services outlets.

At the prestigious Wharton School there are Startup Internship Awards, worth between $500 and $2,500 generally, that help students to work for smaller rather than larger companies. The students write reports about their experience, so as to inspire other MBA students to take a risk and pursue a similar path. 

At Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, the Career Management Group works with the Entrepreneurship Program to help MBA students land jobs at startups. For MBAs who want to work in startups, there’s even a dedicated career who has worked at various startups, accelerators and in the venture capital industry.

MBA students at University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business can enroll in the Batten Technology Venture Fellows program. Through this scheme, students intern at a startup that is part of a venture capital firm’s portfolio. The program has run for three years, with the students this year working for startups in New York City, Silicon Valley and Austin, Texas. 

Incoming MBA students at University of Chicago Booth School of Business can spend the summer before they begin the course working for a Booth-led startup. They also get a stipend for expenses incurred during the internship that lasts seven weeks. MBA students generally work at startups based in the US, but there are overseas options available. 

IMD Business School in Switzerland runs a startup competition where up to 30 different startups work with IMD’s MBA students on their strategy and business models. The program lasts for about 500-600 working hours and the ultimate goal is to help the startups pitch to venture capitalists in Silicon Valley. 

In London, Imperial College Business School runs a program called ‘MBA Connect,’ in which full-time MBA candidates mentor startups from Imperial College, a world leading technology and science university. This bridges business school students with startups and may lead to internships or formal job opportunities. 

At NYU Stern School of Business MBA students can join the NYU Startup Online Hub where they can discover and share startup job opportunities with the student body and alumni network. They can also highlight their skills and interests via an individual profile. On the platform students can also ask for help and share advice on working at a startup. 

Approximately half of INSEAD’s graduates run their own companies at some point in their careers, but others join high-growth startups or social ventures. There are more than 15 entrepreneurship electives during the highly-ranked 10 month MBA program in France and Singapore, giving students good insight into working in a startup.

CEIBS in Shanghai works hard to make sure MBA students are prepared for an entrepreneurial venture. More than 100 students each year join the student-led entrepreneurship club, where they can swap tips and startup job opportunities. There’s also a $100m fund that invests in early and growth stage businesses managed by CEIBS alumni.