Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship program rose one slot this year, rising from last year’s No. 2 position. | File Photo
C.T. Bauer College of Business’ Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship program has been named the No. 1 undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the country.
Each year, The Princeton Review releases a list of their ranking of the top undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship programs. UH rose one slot this year, rising from last year’s No. 2 position.
With UH holding the top undergraduate rating and Rice University holding the top graduate rating, both of the top slots are based at Houston universities.
WCE is one of UH’s smaller and more exclusive programs, accepting 35-40 undergraduate students into the entrepreneurship program each year. Students have to be in good standing academically and have taken a variety of Bauer prerequisites.
Students who are currently in the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship discussed how the program’s impact goes beyond academics, pushing their character development as well.
“The biggest impact that (WCE) had on my life is confidence,” said entrepreneurship and marketing senior Grier Gracin. “The biggest thing about this program is the things you can’t put into paper — the culture, the family. It literally changed my life. It gave me control of my life.”
Within the program, entrepreneurship and human relations senior Danna Ceron shares how the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship has prepared her for real life experience with entrepreneurship.
Ceron emphasized the importance of finding your purpose and intentions behind starting a business, and how it correlates to that business’ success.
“Through the Wolff Center, I have been able to create viable business plans, been able to form teams and lead them to success, and now I can say that I am living my life with a purpose,” Ceron said. “If I wasn’t in this program, I probably would have started a business, and it probably would have gone miserably because I didn’t know what my purpose was.”
Dean of the C. T. Bauer College of Business Paul A. Pavlou credits WCE’s success to the group dynamic that fosters community within the program.
“The entrepreneurship program at the Wolff Center is ranked as the No. 1 program in the nation because of the unique integrative way that students, faculty, staff and mentors work collaboratively together to provide a world-class education, personalized guidance, experiential learning and dedicated mentorship by real-life entrepreneurs,” Pavlou said.
Additionally, Pavlou felt WCE sets itself apart from competing entrepreneurship programs through opportunities WCE provides outside of the classroom.
These opportunities include outreach programs to help students give back to the community such as the Stars of Tomorrow Excellence Program and the Prison Entrepreneurship Program.
“The innovative approach of working with multiple disciplines outside the business school to identify and commercialize intellectual property in collaboration with partners from across and outside campus is a unique feature of the program,” Pavlou said.
