Northwestern Students Balance Startups and Studies

Undergraduates are increasingly exploring entrepreneurial ventures while navigating a traditional pre-professional campus culture.

Updated on Oct. 28, 2026 in Internships

Northwestern Students Balance Startups and Studies

Live Poll

Would you consider taking a leave of absence from your studies to pursue a business startup?

Northwestern University students are actively engaging with startup culture through campus resources like The Garage. Some students are even choosing to take leaves of absence to pursue full-time work at emerging tech companies.

Why it matters

The rise in startup activity highlights a shift in student priorities at a university known for its traditionally pre-professional and corporate-minded campus culture. This trend sees more students testing the viability of their own ventures alongside standard career paths.

Since opening in 2015, The Garage has facilitated the development of over 1,500 startups at Northwestern University. Students typically balance these ventures as side projects while continuing to pursue traditional consulting roles.

The players

The Garage

This is the primary entrepreneurial hub at Northwestern University designed to support student-led startup projects.

Dorothy Zhang

A Northwestern student who took a leave of absence during the 2026 Winter Quarter to work at the startup Figure AI.

Vani Bansal

A student co-founder who launched the startup Glimmr in 2025.

The details

Students utilize The Garage to access professional resources for their entrepreneurial projects. While some like Dorothy Zhang have taken formal leaves of absence to join firms such as Figure AI, many others continue to treat their startups as secondary to their primary degree pursuit.

The Garage opened in 2015.
Dorothy Zhang and Vani Bansal launched their respective ventures in 2025.
Dorothy Zhang took a leave of absence in Winter Quarter 2026.

Market Landscape

The rise of student-led startups marks a departure from the historical model of Northwestern University's pre-professional career pipeline, which favored immediate post-graduation entry into corporate roles. This shift reflects a broader trend of students leveraging university infrastructure to pursue venture-backed opportunities earlier in their careers.

Students balancing side projects may find increased access to campus networking and funding through university-backed hubs. This trend potentially alters the recruitment timeline for students who choose to delay traditional career paths in favor of entrepreneurial experience.

The takeaway

Students interested in startups can utilize university resources to test business models without needing to drop out of school. Pursuing a startup as a side project allows for professional exploration while maintaining the security of an academic degree.