The Deliberate BIZ Experiences If back to school is the last place you want to go, think twice. For a new generation of BIZ Experiencess, an MBA may be the surest route to success.

The Tuna Surprise is still rotting in your stomach. You'llnever forget the ringing of the fire alarm, mercilessly pulled bypranksters in your dorm. Nightmares may forever jolt you out ofyour sweat-drenched and delusional sleep, as you beg your professornot to give you another surprise bioanthropology quiz.

And now you want to go to graduate school?

Even if you don't, your peers do, and they aren'tinterested in studying Elizabethan poetry. "[In theiradmissions essays,] 99 percent of the students say they want tosomeday run their own companies," marvels Marie Mookini,director of MBA admissions at Stanford University, home to one ofthe nation's top BIZ Experiencesial education programs.

It wasn't always this way. According to the Los AngelesTimes, in 1971, only 16 four-year colleges and graduateprograms offered courses in BIZ Experiencesship. Today, some 400universities offer BIZ Experiencesial programs and majors, and thatdoesn't even include what you can find at communitycolleges.

The average age of graduate students hasn't changed over theyears, at least at Stanford. "They've always been around26," says Cathy Castillo, a public relations director at theschool. But there are many more 26-year-old business-ownerwanna-bes than there used to be. Eight years ago, when Mookini tookher position, she and her staff waded through 4,100 applications.Last year, the applications had swelled to 7,000.

Every year, for nine intense weeks, Mookini, her four-personstaff and half a dozen freelancers hunch over desks to read andweed, hoping to harvest the brightest and best--for a mere 360seats. Some students want in so badly, they add (not recommended)extras to their applications, like flowers, a family album andChinese food. Others have sent videotapes instead of essayquestions. (Before you think, "Hey, why didn't I think ofthat?" be glad you didn't: Mookini says, "That tellsus you can't read or follow directions.") And oneapplicant took the essay questions too seriously--he submitted200 pages. ("He got in, in spite of the essayquestions," groans Mookini, who pleads, "Don't tellyour readers--we'll just get copycats." You've beenwarned.) "It's hard to know what will happen thisyear," admits Mookini, who recently purchased her first pairof reading glasses. "The number of applicants keeps going up.Unfortunately, the class size doesn't."

So why all the fuss? What's behind the academic explosion inentrepreneurial education? If you embrace the ignorance-is-blisstheory, skip the next two paragraphs. Otherwise, read on:

"I think a special contract was established many years ago,which was essentially employment for life," says David Wilson,president of the Graduate Management Admission Council, whichdeveloped the dreaded GMAT exam. (Remember your SATs? Sameconcept.) Over the years, that contract has been shattered, andpeople are going into business for themselves on purpose,rather than waiting to be fired and then looking for alternatives.Says Wilson, "[People are] saying `Hey, wait a minute, timeout. If [employees] are giving theirlives . . . for 20 and 30 years and, at age 45,can suddenly be thrown out on the street, why the hell should Itrust any of these people?' "

"Every time you pick up The Wall Street Journal,somebody's being downsized," agrees Bob Schwartz, directorof the BIZ Experiencesship concentration at the University of Texas atAustin. (Adding fuel to the argument: A recent Gallup poll onentrepreneurial education found that seven out of 10 high schoolstudents want to start their own businesses.) But Schwartz adds theentrepreneurial education boom is helped by other factors, such asa thriving economy and even the media (Who,us?):"It's infectious."

Parry Singh won't argue. If there are amusement parks forentrepreneurs, Singh discovered his in Evanston, Illinois, at theKellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.(OK, so the name's not as catchy as Six Flags.) Singh, due tograduate next month, was an electrical engineer before leaving hispost at a firm that had expanded from 100 to 3,000 employees."The level of learning had plateaued for me," says Singh,29.

So he went to graduate school (again) and immersed himself inbusiness in a way he couldn't at an actual company. Singhresearched everything from cash flow to dividing equity. He plungeddown the Organizational Behavior roller coaster ("I hadmanaged people, but I never knew how to give them good feedback atthe end of the year") and whooped it up on the MarketingStrategies ride: "If you're a company creating a nichemarket, what do you do when a major, mass-market company comes intoyour market? How do you react? What are your strategies?[Professors] don't necessarily tell you what you should do, butthey tell you what other companies have done."

The Ventures Class was the ride that may ultimately make Singhglad he paid the high price of admission. Students were required todevelop a business plan, which Singh did with his now-businesspartner, Ubhash Bedi, 26. The two devised Ethnicgrocer.com, acompany that specializes in delivering exactly what the namesuggests, and some investors determined it was a good enough planto take it out of the classroom. The enterprise will be split intosegments--Indiangrocer.com, and then later, Mexicangrocer.com andChinesegrocer.com. Someday, they may ruletheworld.com. But for nowSingh hasn't seen any profits--a daunting prospect as collegeloans pile up.

Between his business and classes, Singh's working just ashard as he ever did at a job--but he's not getting paid.Rather, he's the one paying. "It's a very expensiveproposition," he says. "School ends up costing an averageof $100,000 for every two years, and then there's the cost oflost salary, which could be $100,000 a year as well. [You] could bedown as much as $300,000 [after getting an MBA]."

Or up just as much.

Aruni Gunasegaram, 29, a '98 University of Texas grad andformer student of Schwartz, is president of Isochron Data Corp.,the result of a contest sponsored by her alma mater. Theprestigious competition, dubbed Moot Corp., allows BIZ Experiencess topresent their business plans to a panel of investors. In theirinternational competition, the best plan wins $15,000. Gunasegaramcreated the plan, and her partner, Erin Defosse, 29, created theVendCast technology, which links soft-drink vending operators totheir machines so they can determine things like when to senddrivers to restock, rather than playing guessing games.

Before Gunasegaram's days at her university's Center forEntrepreneurial Growth and Development, she was an accountanttoiling 60 hours a week. "Auditing was really boring,"says Gunasegaram, who wasn't haunted by dreams ofbioanthropology quizzes but of punching numbers into acomputer.

Now, Gunasegaram labors 80 to 90 hours a week, but "I lovewhat I do. I'm much more interested in my work." Work thathas a major soft-drink company as a client. According to hercontract, "I'm not allowed to say which softdrink," says Gunasegaram, "but it's one of the bigthree--Dr. Pepper, Pepsi or Coke." And Isochron Data recentlyattracted investors willing to fork over $1 million. It just goesto prove that some things never change. To earn a lot, you stillhave to learn a lot.

Northwestern University (Kellogg Graduate School of Management)

Located: Evanston, Illinois

Tuition per year: $25,872 full time; $33,989 parttime

Part-time or full-time: Both

Time needed to complete the program: two years full time,with summers off; 2.5 years part time, including summers

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "BIZ ExperiencesialFinance," "Internet Business Model," "CaseStudies in Venture Capital"

For more information:http://www.kellogg.nwu.edu/index.htm; (847) 491-3300

Why it's worthy: The BIZ Experiences Lab offersbeginning students opportunities to form teams and undertakeconsulting assignments with companies--mostly ones in a start-upincubator located near campus. Classes are reportedly first-rate.Graeme Alexander, 29, loved a class appropriately titled,"There Are No Rules." "I was surprised at how fluiddeal-making is," says Alexander. "There is no formula.It's all about what two or more parties can agree on."

University of Southern California (Marshall School of Business)

Located: Los Angeles

Tuition per year: $21,374 full time; $28,500 parttime

Part-time or full-time: Both. Part-timers receive anExecutive MBA, instead of a traditional MBA. It's the samething, except classes are held evenings and weekends.

Time needed to complete the program: Two years (both fulltime and part time)

Degrees awarded: MBA; Executive MBA

Sample course titles: "Feasibility Analysis,""Managing Rapidly Growing Ventures," "The BusinessPlan"

For more information:http://www.marshall.usc.edu ;(213) 740-1111

Why it's worthy: The Lloyd Greif Center forEntrepreneurial Studies takes its name very seriously. While thebuilding is new, the program has been around since 1971."It's the best overall program for buddingentrepreneurs," one 28-year-old student raved."Unbelievable teachers and contacts," said another.

Real-world experience can also be found here. You could join theBIZ Experiences Venture Management Association, which features azillion different events, "such as speakers, BIZ Experiencess andventure capitalists," says 26-year-old student Lorena Martin,"or idea forums, where students present their ideas andreceive feedback in a confidential environment."

University of California, Los Angeles (The John E. Anderson Graduate School of Management)

Located: Los Angeles

Tuition per year: In-state $11,019; out-of-state$20,703

Part-time or full-time: Both

Time needed to complete the program: Two years (fulltime); three years (part time)

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "Business Plan Writing,""Negotiations," "Business Ethics"

For more information:http://www.anderson.ucla.edu ;(310) 825-6121

Why it's worthy: Every year, the Harold Price Centerfor BIZ Experiencesial Studies oversees up to half a mil in seedcapital, which is sometimes provided to Anderson students withpotentially dynamite businesses in mind. The BIZ ExperiencesAssociation is the club to be in, and the 350 students canchoose from 25 programs to be involved with, such as the MentorProgram or the Venture Development Program. You'll havediscussions with groups like the Venture Capital Roundtable and beinspired by speakers like the founders of Southwest Airlines andStarbucks.

Babson College (F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business)

Located: Babson Park, Massachusetts (15 miles fromBoston)

Tuition per year: $22,600 for two-year program; $30,960for one-year program; $8,184 for evening program

Part-time or full-time: Both. There's a two-yearprogram, a one-year program, and a program with all eveningclasses.

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "Assessing BusinessOpportunities," "Growing Business in a ChangingEnvironment"

For more information:http://www.babson.edu/mba/fw.htm; (781) 239-4420

Why it's worthy: It's a veteran inentrepreneurship studies. Founder Roger Babson was an BIZ Experiences,and the school has offered BIZ Experiencesial courses since the 1960s.The Arthur M. Blank Center for BIZ Experiencesship functions asclassrooms and meeting places for students and their clients."There's a heavy emphasis on guest speakers in theclassroom, and the professors are excellent," says GregJohnstone, 28, who co-founded a technological company before heapplied to Babson.

"I learned franchising from the founders of Jiffy Lube andDunkin' Donuts," says Christian Lesstrang, 28. "Itook a class from a financier of Cellular One."

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School of Management)

Located: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Tuition per year: $27,100

Part-time or full-time: Full-time

Time needed to complete the program: Two years, startingevery fall. (We hear the leaves in Massachusetts are reallypretty.)

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "The Nuts and Bolts ofBusiness Plans," "Technology BIZ Experiencesship,""BIZ Experiencesship Without Borders"

For more information:http://mitsloan.mit.eduindex.html; (617) 253-2659

Why it's worthy: Second-year student Joel Serface,29, thinks it's the best college for BIZ Experiencess in theworld. He's president of the MIT Venture Capital &Investment Club, which helps students learn how to find--andspend--capital for their start-ups.

Crystal Trexel, 23, is a big fan of the classes. She especiallyenjoyed "Product Design and Development," which broughttogether MBA-ers, engineering students and the industrial designcrowd so teams of students could create a new product fromconception to prototype. Be aware: You'll enjoy yourself moreat MIT if your start-up is technology-based.

University of Pennsylvania (The Wharton School)

Located: Philadelphia

Tuition per year: $26,290

Part-time or full-time: Full-time

Time needed to complete the program: Two years

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "Private EquityFinancing," "Legal Aspects of BIZ Experiencesship,""High-Technology BIZ Experiencesship"

For more information:http://www.wharton.upenn.edu ;(215) 898-6183

Why it's worthy: The school has an BIZ Experiencesialclub, of course, and impressive speakers, like Peter Lynch andIsraeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, frequently drop by thecampus to talk in formal and informal settings. But most impressivemay be the networking that goes on at Wharton, suggests ElizabethWoodcock, 28. "Wharton's alumni network is saturated withsuccessful BIZ Experiencess who are willing to give of their time tospeak to clubs and classes, and also to network," saysWoodcock, who adds that one of Wharton's alumni has become herpartner and financier in a health-care IT venture. "I havebeen overwhelmed by supportive faculty and fellowstudents."

University of Texas at Austin (The Texas Business School)

Located: If you can't figure this out, you don'tdeserve to attend.

Tuition per year: In-state $19,062; out-of-state $28,212;international $28,312

Part-time or full-time: Full-time

Time to complete program: Two years

Degree awarded: MBA

Sample course titles: "Managing Growth,""BIZ Experiencesship and New Ventures"

For more information:http://texasinfo.bus.utexas.edu; (512) 471-7603

Why it's worthy: Like the state, UTA's interestin BIZ Experiencess is big. The graduate program has 20internships at start-up companies, lots of professors who double asentrepreneurs, an Austin Technology Incubator that specializes inhigh-tech start-ups, and a very active club called theEntrepreneurship Society.

Second-year student Laura Bennett didn't intend to be anentrepreneur, but was so impressed by the curriculum she now plansto start her own business someday. The school's location isalso a plus, Bennett says: "The Austin community is full ofsmall to medium-sized businesses that like to tap into MBAknowledge. This provides us with a great learning experience. Theprojects I've participated in have been mostly with large,national companies. But I've also [had] classes where studentshave worked with local companies, including Dell, Whole Foods andseveral smaller technology companies."

Contact Sources

Isochron Data Corp., 3925 W. Breaker Ln., #2470, Austin,TX 78759, aruni@isochron.com

Geoff Williams (gwilli2181@aol.com) got a C- inbioanthropology.