Business Administration

Types of Degrees Business Administration Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many general business administration and management graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	137,755
Master’s Degree	105,058
Associate Degree	56,420
Basic Certificate	26,932
Undergraduate Certificate	4,744
Graduate Certificate	3,151
Doctor’s Degree	2,208

What Business Administration Majors Need to Know

In an O*NET survey, business administration majors were asked to rate what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important in their occupations. These answers were weighted on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the most important.

Knowledge Areas for Business Administration Majors

This major prepares you for careers in which these knowledge areas are important:

• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
• Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

Skills for Business Administration Majors

A major in business administration prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

Abilities for Business Administration Majors

Business Administration majors often go into careers where the following abilities are vital:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

What Can You Do With a Business Administration Major?

People with a business administration degree often go into the following careers:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Administrative Services Managers	10.1%	$96,180
Business Professors	18.0%	$83,960
Compliance Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Construction Managers	11.1%	$93,370
Cost Estimators	10.5%	$64,040
Investment Fund Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Loss Prevention Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Management Analysts	14.3%	$83,610
Regulatory Affairs Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Sales Managers	7.5%	$124,220
Security Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Social and Community Service Managers	18.0%	$65,320
Storage and Distribution Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Supply Chain Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Transportation Managers	6.8%	$94,730
Wind Energy Operations Managers	8.0%	$107,480
Wind Energy Project Managers	8.0%	$107,480

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration?

Roughly 47% of the graduates are women, and 53% are men.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of business administration majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	10,783
Black or African American	14,537
Hispanic or Latino	24,338
White	67,033
International Students	6,431
Other Races/Ethnicities	14,633

Geographic Diversity

Business Administration appeals to people across the globe. About 4.7% of those with this major are international students.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Business Administration

Some degrees associated with business administration may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. Whatever the case may be, pursuing more education usually means that more career options will be available to you.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to business administration have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Less than a High School Diploma	0.2%
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	9.1%
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	4.1%
Some College Courses	7.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	8.6%
Bachelor’s Degree	45.4%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	4.0%
Master’s Degree	14.1%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	2.3%
First Professional Degree - awarded for completion of a program that: requires at least 2 years of college work before entrance into the program, includes a total of at least 6 academic years of work to complete, and provides all remaining academic requirements to begin practice in a profession.	0.3%
Doctoral Degree	5.1%

Online Business Administration Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	340	116
Certificate (2-4 Years)	5	1
Associate’s Degree	1,156	413
Bachelor’s Degree	263	107
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	1,061	411
Post-Master’s	54	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	173	40
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	16	5
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	3	0

Majors Related to Business Administration

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to business administration.

Major	Number of Grads
Organizational Leadership	15,303
Interior Design Management	13,070
Supply Chain Management	10,445
Operations Management	5,884
Project Management	4,363
Office Administration	3,252
Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management	2,481
Purchasing, Procurement/Acquisitions and Contracts Management	1,102
Retail Management	985
Transportation/Mobility Management	592
E-Commerce	415
Science/Technology Management	321
Research and Development Management	287
Customer Service Management	282
Risk Management	177

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.