Failing Forward? How University Startup Programs for Undergraduates Impact Career Formation

• In Event: 2484 - Section on Sociology of Education Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 16. Pathways through Higher Education

Abstract

University-sponsored incubators designed to support student startups are spreading rapidly, but what impacts do they have on students’ college experience and career plans? I examine the undergraduate startup cultures at two public university campuses in Southern California, one more and one less selective, while also interviewing entrepreneurial undergraduates across California to add field-level context. Interviews were conducted with 56 undergraduate entrepreneurs, roughly half in STEM majors and half not. Nearly all students first came to seriously consider entrepreneurism from campus programs after, not before, enrolling in college. Non-STEM majors reported more negative impacts on their academics. Non-STEM majors were also more likely to create lifestyle and consumer products with more tenuous market opportunities. Nearly all incubator participants interviewed reported an increased risk tolerance and the willingness to sacrifice for their startups, most readily in the form of time and money. Most interviewees came to see risk-taking as a character virtue and also reported increased preferences for flexible future employment arrangements. Nevertheless, STEM majors, especially at more selective universities, are more likely to quit their startup when better job offers come along—their startup experience having served as a resume boost. Non-STEM majors, especially from broader-access colleges, are more likely to keep persisting in startups, whether sustainable or not, often accepting precarious labor roles to support their startup ambitions.

Author

• Daniel Davis, University of California-San Diego