Some Schools Shake Up Academic Rite of Passage by Requiring Students to Confront Nuts-and-Bolts Demands of a Start-Up

Business school electives have taken a turn for the creative, tackling everything from New York City's problems to health care to humanitarian relief.

For some aspiring entrepreneurs, business school is like protective bubble wrap. Students get to leverage the experiences of faculty and alumni to test their ideas. Prize money doled out at business plan competitions allows for experimentation. And the support of student entrepreneurship circles may take some of the sting out of pursuing a solo endeavor. But do some schools provide more support than others when it comes to starting a business?

Bloomberg Businessweek asked each school ranked among our top 30 MBA programs to show us what they’ve got when it comes to supporting student entrepreneurs. This list is a compilation of those resources.

Why study for an MBA? Which school to choose? And by which criteria? There is no one better qualified to answer these questions than the programme directors of business schools who observe the industry, its trends and its relative competitive advantages. Therefore the English national daily newspaper “The Independent” and Audencia Nantes School of Management in France asked the heads of 58 business schools in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America, but not the United States for their opinion. The data such collected challenges some of the accepted facts concerning the Master of Business Administration.

This admissions season, business school alumni are the ones facing rejection. Graduate schools including University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School are bypassing alumni in admissions interviews to meet directly with M.B.A. candidates in person or via Skype videoconferencing, despite the potential higher costs, in an attempt to ensure interviews are being conducted in a uniform manner—and in English.

The first wave of admissions decisions have gone out from top-tier business schools. So what's an eager candidate to do if the answer isn't yes?

Before going to Business School you have to pass the Graduate Management Admission Test, also known as the GMAT. This standardized test measures skills and aptitude in math and English. It’s considered to be tough as nails and is feared by many. In order to succeed most students spend months preparing. But do not despair, there is help out there. Twitter for example provides the hopeful applicant with helpful accounts galore. Onlinemba.com has identified 30 sources.

The MBA has traditionally been known as a general management degree, but that’s starting to change as students look to get an edge in a more competitive job market. Increasingly, students are pushing aside the bread-and-butter MBA degree in favor of one with a unique specialization, like aviation or football.

Self-funded executive MBA students want career services comparable to those offered full-time MBAs. EMBA programs seek a middle ground

Anxious business-school applicants have something to add to their to-do list: preparation for the new "integrated reasoning" section of the GMAT.