ELS (Entrepreneurial Leadership Studies) was the original name for our minor. In 2020, we changed the name of the minor to ENT (Entrepreneurship). The name better reflects the focus of our courses and minor.

As a title, “Entrepreneurship” more clearly encompasses all of the courses offered within the minor. Any ELS courses that have been successfully completed will count towards the ENT minor. Students completing the minor’s graduation requirements on or after June 2020 can receive the ENT minor. Students who matriculated in 2019 or earlier have the option to receive the ELS minor if  preferred. Registration for Fall 2020 forward will use the ENT course coding; however, the numerical course identifiers will not change.

Exciting changes are coming for the ENT Minor effective from September 2022 onward! We are moving to more flexible requirements to allow students the opportunity to obtain a solid foundation in entrepreneurship along with the flexibility to pursue courses that align with students’ interests. These requirements are 100% backward-compatible with existing requirements, so students who are on track to earn the minor will not need to change their plans. Students who have not yet completed their minor requirements will have more flexibility to choose courses in their area of interest while receiving a solid foundation for the entrepreneurial method.

No. The changes are relevant for anyone graduating in Fall 2022 and beyond. We understand that if you are graduating in 2022, you may have already planned to take courses according to the old requirements. Don’t worry – you can earn the minor on time because the changes to the minor are 100% backward-compatible.

Yes, you can earn the minor without taking all the core courses. You only need to earn 12 credits — 6 of which need to be chosen from the core courses. That said, we strongly recommend all ENT students take at least one course in accounting or finance. For AY2022-23, if you elect not to take Entrepreneurial Finance (4 credits) — a must-have for students contemplating a career in investment banking or financial services in any capacity — you can choose to take EC3 Financial Accounting or EC 50 Introduction to Finance. For AY2023-24 and beyond, we anticipate introducing additional finance courses at an introductory level (2-3 credits) for entrepreneurial students.

Following is an example course progression for a student interested in building software ventures.

• Freshman year:
  • ENT100 Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking (3 credits), ENT193.01 Introduction to Making (2 credits) or ENT193.02 Paths to Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
• Sophomore year:
  • ENT151 Entrepreneurship for Computer Science (3 credits – CS majors only) or ENT101 Entrepreneurship and Business Planning (3 credits – all students)
  • ENT103 Entrepreneurial Finance – a core course (4 credits)
• Junior and Senior years:
  • ENT105 Entrepreneurial Marketing (3 credits) or ENT107 Entrepreneurial Leadership (3 credits) – both core courses
  • Additional electives drawn from the Core and Elective lists to make up 12 credits

Following is an example course progression for a student interested in building software ventures.

• Freshman year:
  • ENT193.21 Developing Financial Literacy (2 credits) or ENT193.02 Paths to Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
• Sophomore year:
  • ENT101 Entrepreneurship and Business Planning (3 credits – all students) or any other qualifying foundational course
  • ENT103 Entrepreneurial Finance – a core course (4 credits)
• Junior and Senior years
  • ENT105 Entrepreneurial Marketing – a core course (3 credits)
  • A leadership or management course including ENT107 Entrepreneurial Leadership and other options from the core and elective lists
  • Additional finance courses from the electives list

Following is an example course progression for a student interested in product design and product management

• Freshman year:
  • ENT100 Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking (3 credits), ENT193.01 Introduction to Making(2 credits) or ENT193.02 Paths to Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
• Sophomore year:
  • ENT161 Consumer Product Ventures (3 credits) or any other foundational course
  • ENT105 Entrepreneurial Marketing or ENT106 Entrepreneurial Sales – both core courses (3 credits)
• Junior and Senior years:
  • ENT107 Entrepreneurial Leadership – a core course (3 credits)
  • ENT162 Bringing Products to Market (3 credits)
  • A finance course drawn from the core and elective list

Following is an example course progression for a student interested in creative and media arts.

• Freshman year:
  • ENT193.01 Introduction to Making(2 credits), ENT193.21 Developing Financial Literacy or ENT193.02 Paths to Entrepreneurship (2 credits)
• Sophomore year:
  • ENT101 Entrepreneurship and Business Planning (3 credits) – a foundational course, or any other foundational course
  • ENT105 Entrepreneurial Marketing – a core course (3 credits)
• Junior and Senior years:
  • ENT107 Entrepreneurial Leadership – a core course (3 credits)
  • ENT100 Creativity, Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking (3 credits),
  • Additional finance courses are strongly recommended 

We will be adding three new sections in 2023-2024.

• We will be offering a fourth section to the foundational course, ENT 101 Entrepreneurship and Business Planning
• We will be offering a new exploratory course focused on creativity in the food and beverage space in the Spring – Open to all students, including freshmen.

We also added cross listed courses from our parent organization, Tufts Gordon Institute (TGI) in areas spanning financial literacy, career pathfinding, marketing, communications and more. Look for cross-listed courses with the TGI prefix in the course list above.

Yes, you can find complete details about the transfer credit process on this Tufts website. During this process, if you request ENT course credit, then your request will be routed to the Undergraduate Transfer of Credit Department Representative listed here for Entrepreneurship. In conjunction with faculty, this person determines the acceptability of the content of your requested course(s). When you input your request in SIS, it is imperative that you include a link to the course syllabus. If you are accessing the syllabus through the student portal of another university, then the Tufts representative will not be able to access the syllabus through the link you use. You will need to copy the syllabus, perhaps to a Google document, and upload an accessible link in SIS. If you wish for your request to be considered for equivalency to an existing course, then please indicate this in your SIS request. Please note that transfer credits are not typically issued for core course equivalencies. Transfer credits are only issued for elective course credit. Transfer credit requests are reviewed on a monthly basis. If you do not receive a response to your request in SIS within one month, then you can please reach out to ENTstudent@tufts.edu.