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Young Guns A new generation of college students makes entrepreneurship its business.

By Lynn Beresford

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

The bed isn't made. The coffee maker balances precariously on the bookshelf next to a well-worn copy of The Seven Habits of Highly Successful People. The only signs of life are a personal computer running a contact management program and an answering machine doing its job. Welcome to the modern-day college dorm room.

This is college, but it's a far cry from "Animal House." Instead of ditching class to swill beer, a new breed of college students is more likely to skip school to attend breakfast meetings with venture capital groups or powwow with potential business partners. College campuses are becoming veritable hothouses for entrepreneurship as formalized academic programs yield a new generation of street-smart,
business-savvy entrepreneurs.

Jennifer Kushell is part of this generation. She's ambitious, driven and definitely young. The 23-year-old president of her own company, The Young Entrepreneurs Network, the recent college graduate nurtured her inborn entrepreneurial tendencies while still attending Boston Uni-versity. Now, having started four small businesses, all while still in school, Kushell has a head start in the real world. Her business publishes an online directory of entrepreneurs from 40 countries--all between the ages of 10 and 35. She's also started a quarterly newsletter that explores issues young entrepreneurs face.