Best Business Administration and Management colleges in the U.S. 2024

Business administration degrees prepare you for a wide variety of roles in the professional world. Your career path with this type of training depends largely on your personal interests and goals, so you’re not bound to one narrow selection of jobs when you graduate. Many of the roles you’ll qualify for depends on your experience and level of education, too. Bachelor’s and master’s degree-holders often seek out different types of positions.

When you earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration, you can seek out entry- and mid-level positions such as sales manager, financial analyst, and market research analyst. Master’s degree-holders often qualify for upper-level positions in the field, including positions like investment banker, investment fund manager, marketing manager, and supply chain manager, to name a few.

Interested in pursuing an education in business administration? Maybe you’re new to the field and looking into bachelor’s programs, or maybe you’re a working professional or recent graduate interested in pursuing an MBA to bolster your knowledge and credentials. Whatever the case, there’s a business administration program out there to fit your personal and academic needs.

Business administration is a broad field, and that label includes many different types of professional roles and industries. In terms of education, business administration generally refers to specialized business practices and principles, often in a concentrated area. It also includes training in the management of time, resources, and personnel. 

Money makes the world go round, and business makes money. Even in times of economic turmoil, business careers remain reliable ways to build long, fulfilling, and rewarding careers. In order to succeed, workers must be flexible and have the right training in order to secure their careers long-term.

Business Career Paths

Business careers are as varied as the world economy itself, and there are myriad positions that can fall under the “business" category. Here, will give you a sample of some popular business careers and what they're all about. For a complete list of business opportunities, scroll through the career profile to the right. Business management careers revolve around coordinating people, resources, and strategies in order to maximize profits and efficiency. Managers work in all industries, and often bring a wide range of education and experience to their role, but many are trained in business administration, human resource management, operations management, or some other facet of management and administration. Real estate and insurance careers focus on the buying and selling of properties, and the protection of assets through insurance policies and investments. Real estate agents help people and businesses buy and sell properties, while, insurance salespeople give their clients the best possible understanding of the different forms of insurance and investment products available to them in order to best protect their personal and corporate assets. Insurance underwriters, on the other hand, evaluate risk in terms of insurance policies and determine what can and cannot be insured, and determine the terms for such insurance. Marketing is the side of business responsible for bringing in customers: marketing specialists craft the communications that bring a company's message to a target audience, and put its products and services in the best and most appealing light. Marketers also carry out research well before product launches to ensure a good reception. Public relations specialists act as the public face and voice of their clients, whether they be individual persons or large corporations. They represent their client to the media, craft public statements, and advise on PR strategy.

Salaries for Business Careers

Management career salaries will vary greatly depending on industry, location, and the experience of the manager. For example, managers working in metropolitan hubs in financial or technology industries with years of experience can have nearly unlimited earning potential, as their salaries can be tied to the performance of the departments or products they manage. Real estate and insurance careers often offer salaries that are directly tied to performance. Many real estate and insurance pay scales are heavily commission-based. Looking at an industry-wide sample, however, real estate agents earn a median salary of around $40,000, with most agents earning between $27,000 and 65,000. Insurance salespeople earn a median salary just over $45,000, with a similar range for the middle 50 percent, between $33,000 and 69,000. Insurance underwriters earn a median salary just under $57,000. Marketing salaries are seldom based on commission, but can include lucrative bonus incentives based on the performance of their advertisements and campaigns. PR specialists generally earn around $56,000, with the middle 50 percent earning between $38,000 and 72,000. Marketing specialists earn median salaries of around $80,000 for ad and promotions managers, while marketing managers earn around $108,000.

How Much Do Business Administration Graduates Make?

Similar to the variability in possible career paths you can take with business administration training, salaries also vary greatly among positions. The good news is that most learners with business administration training secure careers with salaries well above the national average.

According to research conducted by the Florida National University in 2019, business administration bachelor’s degree-holders often earn between $60,000-$120,000 per year, depending on the role and their amount of work experience. FNU reports that MBA holders often earn up to $155,000 per year, with the average worker in this area earning $142,000 with three years of experience.

Business Career Education

Generally speaking, experience is just as important in business as education. With that said, many positions require a bachelor's degree just to get a foot in the door. Management careers generally require a bachelor's degree at a minimum, but as competition for high-level positions intensifies, having an master's of business administration (MBA) is a very valuable asset. Production managers, for example, can earn their positions with undergraduate degrees and years of experience, but MBA credentials can often speed the transition from worker to manager. Construction managers, on the other hand, generally don't require more than a bachelor's degree - particularly as 61 percent of construction managers are self-employed. Real estate and insurance careers often require a bachelor's degree as well, and further education beyond that is seldom necessary. Real estate companies, for instance, often require their agents to possess undergraduate degrees. Additionally, all states require agents to earn licenses in order to buy and sell real estate. Likewise, insurance salespeople can get by with a high school diploma, but as the regulations in the industry and the financial products they offer continue to increase in complexity, more and more companies demand bachelor's degrees from their workers, often in business, finance, or economics. Insurance underwriter positions almost universally require bachelor's degrees in business administration, finance, or accounting, with coursework in statistics and other advanced mathematics being extremely helpful. The educational requirements for marketing positions vary greatly, depending on the type of work being done. Entry-level marketing workers, writers, and designers often have little more than bachelor's degrees. PR specialists, likewise, often hold bachelor's degrees in communications, business, or some combination of the two. Marketing managers are much more likely to hold master's degrees in marketing theory, business administration, or a related discipline, though a bachelor's dege may be enough for some positions.

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