What Can You Do With a Bachelor's in Business Administration?

Students who obtain a bachelor’s in business administration go on to lead companies of all kinds, making it a great opportunity to open up the world of business to you. At its heart, a business administration degree will teach you to manage and oversee every aspect of a successful business — from sales and marketing to research and development and more — letting you gain experience in various departments and hone your skills as a leader.

What Is a Business Administrator?

Business administrators can hold a variety of different roles, since administration encompasses both tasks that are accomplished by entry-level business workers as well as some of the most complex leadership roles within a business. In general, you’d expect this person to take on tasks like:

• Keeping records organized and functional.
• Keeping information flowing smoothly through meetings, emails, and other communication channels.
• Managing a variety of other subordinate employees to help them keep their productivity high.
• Creating profitable supply chains to create, move, and distribute products. 
• Handling financial data and evaluating what course-corrections could be needed to achieve the company’s goals.

What Can You Do With a Business Administration Degree?

Many bachelors in Business Administration degrees encourage or require a minor or a specialization within business, giving you the chance to take both general classes throughout the Business department or school, while diving deeper in an area like accounting or supply chain management that interests you. 

A bachelors in Business Administration degree can prepare you for the accounting and finance side of a business, but it can also prepare you to work in marketing and sales, management, or logistics. A given company will have various needs and may have different openings than you planned on pursuing, but having a bachelors degree in business gives you a solid foundation on which many companies are happy to add specialized training. 

Most Popular Careers for Business Administration

Within business administration, there are a variety of concentrations that lead naturally into different departments within a business.

Management

While there are many different avenues for management, many people find that they can work their way up within a company using the management skills gained in their Business Administration degree. You also might consider a career in management consulting, which brings management problem-solving as an outside perspective, with various different companies as your clients.

Marketing and Sales

Marketing analysts, marketing managers, and sales directors all are important parts of making sure that customers both know all about a business’ products and services. Your particular marketing or sales role could have you bringing in a variety of business principles that help you understand what motivates customers to buy and helps you analyze how your business could win more market share over time. 

Logistics

From Logistics Analysts to Transportation Managers, your studies of how to make supply chains flow smoothly will come in handy in the wide world of business logistics. From making sure that product delivery deadlines are accurate to optimizing the amount of staff hours your company has available during busy seasons, logistics workers handle many of the aspects of keeping a business running smoothly.

Finance and Accounting

There are a variety of roles within a business that require either finance or accounting background: from making choices about how to grow the business and what products are most profitable, to making strategic choices to keep taxes low and profits high, your financial education in your Business Administration program will come in handy in a variety of finance and accounting roles at a company. This could include financial analysts, budget analysts, accountants and management roles in any of the financial areas of the business.

Entrepreneurship

If you have your own vision for what you’d like your company to look like, a bachelors degree in business can help you launch your own business. Whether you choose to do this after some time in the corporate world or right after graduating, your Business Administration acumen will come in handy, allowing you to avoid letting some aspect of building a strong business fall through the cracks.  

What Is the Career Outlook For Business Administration?

While the different roles within Business Administration vary, most of them are growing either at the average growth rate for careers or faster. Here are the outlooks for a variety of Business Administration related roles in terms of average percent growth expected from 2019 to 2029 according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

• Logistician: 4% (as fast as average)
• Sales Manager: 4% (as fast as average)
• Management Analyst: 11% (much faster than average)
• Budget Analyst: 3% (as fast as average)
• Human Resources Specialist: 7% (faster than average)

Business Administration Salaries: What This Field Pays

Individuals with a bachelors in Business Administration find that these degrees can boost their earning potential. While there are a variety of roles in this field, here are just some of the careers that a Business Administration degree can help you attain, as well as their average salaries according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

• Logistician: $76,270 a year
• Sales Manager: $132,290 a year
• Management Analyst: $87,660 a year
• Budget Analyst: $78,970 a year
• Human Resources Specialist: $63,490 a year

What Business Administration Programs Look Like

Most Business Administration programs will include some foundations classes, often in business law, financial accounting, and business communication. Beyond that, many programs will include deeper studies of finance, economics, and accounting, how to use information technology that is related to business, how to manage and lead, and how to market and sell services and products effectively. 

Many of these programs will include practical capstone projects, lots of group projects within the courses, and either encouraged or required internships that help you apply what you’re learning in the classroom. 

Should I Get a Degree in Business Administration?

Business Administration degrees can give you access to a wide variety of roles as well as strong upward mobility. If you have an interest in managing other workers, growing your career over time, and having some valuable flexibility in where you’re employed, a bachelors degree in business might be the right fit for you.