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

A degree in business administration and management is a program that prepares individuals to plan, organize, direct, and control the functions and processes of any type and size business. The top areas of focus will be on management, finance, business law, and marketing to ensure individuals are adequately prepared to achieve profitable goals for an organization. Students should also be prepared to receive further instruction in management theory, business ethics, entrepreneurship, human resources management and behavior, accounting, organization and production, strategic planning, and conflict resolution.

Business administration and management degree holders spend their careers running organizations and people, which is why problem-solving, innovation, creativity, and leadership are basic skills an individual must possess. Business managers implement beneficial change in a company. They also come up with successful strategies to drive the business into the future by carefully monitoring competitors and the latest news. A degree in business administration and management will force individuals to think about issues such as ethics, diversity, and politics. With its very high demand, a degree in business administration and management will open doors for a variety of career choices such as administrative services manager, sales manager, supply manager, chief executive, and human resources management.

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

University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA
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Established in 1740, UPenn is a private Ivy League research school with about 22,400 students. UPenn’s Wharton School features bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. Graduate students can take advantage of its world-renowned MBA program, including its dual JD/MBA or MBA/MA programs. Learners can choose from 18 MBA concentrations, including business analytics, finance, healthcare management, and marketing.

Cornell University
Ithaca, NY

Established in 1865, Cornell is a private Ivy League school with about 24,000 students. Its SC Johnson College of Business offers one- and two-year MBA programs. The school also offers a tech-center MBA program in New York City for learners interested in pursuing careers in business and entrepreneurship in technology. Cornell also boasts MBA dual-degree programs in law, industrial and labor relations, medicine, health administration, engineering, and public administration.

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WashU is a private research institution established in 1853. Its Olin Business School offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. Undergraduates choose from concentrations such as finance, accounting, healthcare management, and marketing. MBA students can take advantage of several programs, including a full-time traditional MBA, an online MBA, and a part-time degree program designed for working professionals. WashU graduate students can also pursue executive MBA programs in Mumbai and Shanghai.

Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA

Established in 1863, BC is a private Jesuit university located in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. The school boasts more than 14,500 students and offers an MBA program through its Carroll School of Business. Learners can choose from a full- or part-time MBA program. BC’s program is easily tailored to fit your academic needs, offering more than 150 elective course options and a data analytics concentration. 

University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL
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Miami is a private research institution in Coral Gables, Florida. Miami’s Herbest Business School features 13 MBA programs. Learners choose from programs such as its full-time or online MBA, accelerated MBA in real estate, or joint degree programs like an MD/MBA or JD/MBA. One standout offering is its dual Bachelor of Architecture/Master of Business Administration program.

Established in 1880, USC is a private research school in Los Angeles. The Marshall School of Business at USC offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. The undergraduate business administration program offers unique specializations, including business administration concentrations in the cinematic arts, international relations, real estate finance, and computer science. MBA learners choose from full-time, part-time, one-year, and executive programs. 

UNC-Chapel Hill is one of the oldest universities in the U.S., founded in 1789. The school today serves more than 30,000 students and offers top business training in its Kenan-Flagler School of Business. Graduate students can take advantage of its five types of MBA programs. Learners choose from a full-time, online, evening, weekend, and dual MBA track. Students choose from several concentrations, including business analytics, consulting, corporate finance, marketing, and operations management.

Established in 1785, UGA is one of the oldest universities in the U.S. and serves approximately 39,000 students. The public school’s Terry College of Business offers 10 bachelor’s degrees in business administration, with concentrations including management, real estate, marketing, risk management, finance, and economics. Graduate learners can choose from a full-time, executive, or professional MBA program depending on their work experience. The MBA program features nine available concentrations, including social innovation, marketing, FinTech, and healthcare management.

Tulane is a private research institution established in 1834. The school boasts approximately 14,100 students and is one of the most selective universities in the country. Its Freeman School of Business offers one- and two-year MBAs. Graduate students can also choose from joint degree programs such as the JD/MBA, MD/MBA, or MBA/Master of Sustainable Real Estate Development.

Emory University
Atlanta, GA

Emory University offers 2 Business Administration and Management, General degree programs. It's a large, private not-for-profit, four-year university in a large city. In 2022, 633 Business Administration and Management, General students graduated with students earning 358 Bachelor's degrees, and 275 Master's degrees.

Business Administration and Management Degree Overview

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 bankerinvestment fund managermarketing manager, and supply chain manager, to name a few.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Business Administration and Management?

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. 

 

Business Administration and Management Career and Salary Overview

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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Outlook for Business Careers

Careers in business are flourishing, but it's important to be as prepared as possible when you hit the job market. In addition to strong academic credentials, it's crucial to build work experience during college, and internships or similar programs are the best way to do so. Management careers projections are difficult to predict, as employment opportunities are entirely industry-specific. Generally speaking, however, employment opportunities for production managers are expected to decline slightly in the coming years are more and more companies shift their production offshore. Construction managers, in the other hand, are expected to see relatively robust job growth of around 17 percent - though this prediction is subject to change rapidly as the housing market remains particularly volatile. Likewise, real estate career opportunities shift with the ebb and flow of the housing market. Currently, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that opportunities for real estate agents will expand about on pace with the national average, as will positions for insurance salespeople. Insurance underwriting positions, on the other hand, are expected to decline slightly as automation and sophisticated computer software takes over an increasing amount of the work generally done by underwriters. Marketing careers have a particularly strong outlook. Employment opportunities for PR specialists are expected to grow by about 24 percent in the coming years, nearly twice as fast as the national average for all occupations - and those with multiple language capabilities will find their employment prospects even better. Marketing positions will grow as well, though closer to ten percent - about as fast as the national average. Competition for marketing positions will be exceedingly strong - those seeking to enter the industry should strive for internships while in college, and focus on building a strong portfolio of work.

List of all Business Administration and Management colleges in the U.S.

School Average Tuition Student Teacher Ratio Enrolled Students
University of Pennsylvania Logo University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA
5/5
20 : 1 28,201
Cornell University Logo Cornell University Ithaca, NY
5/5
14 : 1 25,898
Washington University in St Louis Logo Washington University in St Louis Saint Louis, MO
5/5
16 : 1 17,012
Boston College Logo Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA
5/5
17 : 1 15,287
University of Miami Logo University of Miami Coral Gables, FL
5/5
17 : 1 19,402