Business Administration Degree Requirements
The course requirements for earning a degree in business administration prepare you for the various duties you may face in a business setting. "Business administration" is an umbrella term that covers the range of responsibilities involved in the day-to-day operations of a business, from an entry-level office administrator to a corporate CEO.
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Basics
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To earn a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) degree, you must begin by completing a core set of courses. Each degree program and school has minor variations in course titles, but the core courses and business specialty courses are virtually the same. These include English, math, computer basics, political science, humanities, psychology and sociology.
Specialty Courses
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In addition to the basics, you will take specialty courses. Most programs allow some flexibility by setting aside a number of credits as electives. This allows students to focus on specific areas of interest, such as accounting, human resources or marketing. All business students take courses that address professional ethics, management, global aspects of business, statistics, finance, professional writing, economics, business law, selling/marketing, consumer behavior, organizational behavior and human resources.
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Degree
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Accredited universities and business schools usually require 120 credit hours of core and specialty courses for the bachelor's degree (BBA). Associate degrees usually require 60 credit hours of coursework. A master's degree, or MBA, generally requires the student to possess a bachelor's degree and complete another 36 to 50 credit hours of master's-level business specialty courses. These often include an internship or capstone experience.
Compensation
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Professionally educated business administrators with bachelor's degrees can expect salaries in the range of $30,000 to $50,000; those with master's degrees can earn $45,000 and up. Salaries also vary by specialty or focus. Human resources has a higher salary range than office administration, and health care and finance administration salaries are generally higher than those in human resources. Those who work their way up to CEO and CFO positions with successful companies can expect six-figure incomes.
Careers
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Business administration in the upper levels---such as done by CEOs and CFOs---involves decision making in areas such as policy, procedure, regulations, sales, acquisitions and other major considerations that affect the business and its personnel. Specifically, this includes how the administration delegates utilization of resources and assets, and how liabilities are handled and compensated for. Upper administration is also responsible for management and efficient use of the human capital of a business---that is, the employees. Safety, compensation, regulation compliance and conflict resolution are all parts of upper administrative duties.
General Administration
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Some businesses are small or have very few employees. Administration duties in smaller businesses often include aspects of human resources, such as payroll, benefits and grievances; administration, such as answering phones and making copies, invoices and other hardcopies; marketing, such as advertisements and public awareness; clerical, such as data management, organization and storage; and management, such as scheduling, hiring, firing, raises, evaluations and conflict resolution. In larger businesses, these duties are often branches under the upper administration.
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