Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to assess emotional intelligence levels and their contributions to entrepreneurial career choice behaviours among Malaysian public university students. Design/methodology/approach: This study surveyed 369 respondents selected from a population of 87,503 Malaysian public university students using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Respondents were given a three-part questionnaire covering their personal information, their emotional intelligence in terms of self-awareness, emotion management, empathy and social skills and their entrepreneurial career choice behaviours. Findings: The results indicate that the surveyed students have high levels of self-awareness and empathy, and moderate levels of emotion management and social skills. This indicates that these students are able to manage their emotions in making decisions and consider people's emotions. The results also indicate that students who were able to manage their negative emotions were more likely to choose an entrepreneurial career. Research limitations/implications: This study aims to help higher institutions focus on emotional intelligence in the entrepreneurship curriculum to help students recognise their potential in terms of entrepreneurial characteristics and behaviours. Students' involvement in entrepreneurship can foster economic growth in developing countries. A limitation of this study is that it focuses only on second-year undergraduates from public universities in the Selangor area. Originality/value: Few studies address emotional intelligence and entrepreneurial career choices among public university students, which this study addresses.