What QS Doesn’t Measure: Stanford, Berkeley & Penn Dominate In Unicorn Founders

A new analysis from Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev reveals a major gap between traditional academic rankings and real-world entrepreneurial outcomes — and no school illustrates that gap better than the one Strebulaev calls home.

Stanford ranks No. 1 in the United States for producing unicorn founders, with 296 alumni behind privately held startups valued at $1 billion or more. That puts it ahead of every other institution, including Harvard, which ranks second with 205 unicorn founders, and MIT, which ranks third with 184. But in the QS World University Rankings, Stanford comes in at No. 3, while MIT takes the top spot and Harvard ranks fifth.

Strebulaev’s side-by-side comparison of QS and unicorn founder rankings exposes some surprising winners — and some quiet underperformers. The University of California, Berkeley, for instance, ranks just 17th in the QS list but soars to No. 4 for unicorn founders, with 125. The University of Pennsylvania also leaps up the list, ranking 15th in QS but fifth in unicorns with 76 founders.

THE REAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP RANKINGS? LOOK TO BERKELEY, PENN & CORNELL

Yale ranks 21st in QS but sixth by unicorn count, while Columbia, ranked 16th by QS, comes in seventh. Perhaps most notably, Cornell University — far down the QS list at No. 38 — ties Columbia for unicorn output, with 72 founders each.

Other schools with similar patterns include UCLA and the University of Michigan, which are ranked 46th and 45th in QS, respectively, but place in the top 10 for unicorn founders. Even Princeton, often regarded as a bastion of academic excellence, lags behind in entrepreneurial metrics, ranking 25th in QS but only 11th in unicorn founders.

On the flip side, Caltech ranks a lofty 10th in QS but falls to 15th in unicorn production, with just 13 founders behind billion-dollar startups.

MORE NEEDED THAN ‘TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE’

The key takeaway, Strebulaev argues, is that academic prestige alone doesn’t predict entrepreneurial success.

“Academic quality and entrepreneurial success could be different,” he notes. “MIT and Stanford excel at both, while Berkeley punches far above its QS weight in producing unicorn founders.” The data suggest that proximity to venture capital, a strong entrepreneurial culture, and deep alumni networks may play just as critical a role as classroom credentials.

“Building unicorns may require something beyond traditional academic excellence,” Strebulaev concludes.

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