Is a research university right for me?–

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students. Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines. Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel. Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well. Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Is an online college right for me?–

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available. Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online. Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college. Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands. Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain. Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving. If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc. The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors. Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions. If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

Q: Is a liberal arts college right for me?–

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree. Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students. Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom). Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers. Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Badge for BEST FOR BUSINESS COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

By Dr. James Barham

Published: Nov 5, 2021
Updated: Jan 9, 2024

The best business degree programs are those with rich histories of influence, proven through the work produced by the program’s faculty and alumni. Beyond demonstrating scholarly impact in the field, the best business degree programs maximize your opportunities to interact with outstanding business faculty.

Table of Contents

A bachelor’s degree in business administration is an excellent starting point for a career in business management, finance, or entrepreneurship. As a business major, you’ll learn basic business theory as well as practical concepts related to sales, marketing, accounting and more. You’ll also have a chance to focus on specific aspects of business, including human resources, hospitality, real estate, entertainment and much more.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the business degree is an extremely popular degree because of its versatility. As a business major, you’ll pursue your own concentration—whether your interest is in sales, promotions, international business, or any of the countless other options at your fingertips. The best schools for business administration are those which are regionally accredited, which offer a full array of business administration concentrations, and which give you the chance to work with the best and most influential professors and classmates.

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Bachelor’s Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree in Business administration can open numerous professionals doors. In fact, you can do practically anything with this degree. If you have an interest in project management, marketing, or small business administration, you’ll love majoring in business. Majoring in business is also a great option for students who are interested in learning about retail management, corporate citizenship, entrepreneurship, hospitality, real estate, and much more. In addition to opening numerous career pathways, majoring in business can help prepare you for pursuit of an advanced degree. Many business majors will go on to pursue a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree.

Today, top business influencers are driving innovation through their research on lean startup methods, social marketing, global entrepreneurship, and more.

According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, business administration is the single most popular major because of its versatility, as well as the potential for excellent pay. Many of the skills you’ll develop as a business major will be applicable in other areas of life and career. Business majors typically incorporate the kinds of 21st Century skills like collaboration, communication, creative thinking and technological literacy. Even if you don’t plan to start your own business or lead a company, these skills will be valuable as you pursue your professional goals.

The business major also offers students among the best returns on investment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, This median annual wage for business and financial occupations was $69,820 in May 2019, which was significantly higher than the median annual wage for all occupations of $39,810.

Once you’ve declared your major in business administration, you will likely be required to complete a set of core courses in a number of business-related subject areas. While your concentration will give you a chance to choose from a wide range of highly-specialized business administration electives, there are a number of common courses that most business administration majors will be required to take, including:

Business Administration
Business Ethics
Accounting and Finance
Commercial Law
Franchising and Franchise Operations
International Finance
Organizational Behavior Studies
Construction Management
Marketing Research
Selling Skills and Sales Operations

The short answer to this question is, whatever you want. Whether you want to run a four-star hotel, start your own boutique shop on Main St., or crunch numbers for a Fortune 500 company, majoring in business is a good starting point. Your business major can lead to a wide range of career opportunities, including these top jobs:

Frequently Asked Questions About Research Universities, Liberal Arts Colleges, Online Colleges

In pursuing a bachelor’s degree, you will need to choose between three kinds of schools: research universities, liberal arts colleges, and online colleges.

Research universities are colleges and universities whose faculty are active in research and publishing. Research universities offer a wide array of doctoral programs, especially in the sciences. They tend to be big, with tens of thousands of students.

Do you prefer a larger university setting, such as largest public university in your state? Research universities are typically big, offering degrees in many different disciplines.

Is a big high-powered research environment the thing for you? If not, you should think about a liberal arts college. In deciding on an undergraduate institution, ask yourself what sort of environment will best help you to be happy and excel.

Consider whether you are self motivated enough to be a face in the crowd for some classes and largely unknown on campus at a large university. Of course you can find clubs and friends at a large university, but often liberal arts colleges have a more personal quality to them. If you want the community feel, a research university may not fit you well.
Are you interested in STEM fields? Research universities have that name for a reason – real research is happening there. This can create an exciting atmosphere for students interested in STEM. Attending a research university can give you a better chance of getting into better programs for graduate degrees, although a lot of that depends on your performance.

Learn more about research universities by reading about the best research universities in the US.

Often referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.

Do you want your professors to know you? Liberal arts colleges strive to cultivate campus cultures that encourage tight bonds between professors and students.

Professors at these schools will typically conduct original research. Yet the best of these schools offer their faculty reduced teaching loads so that they can both be productive researchers and still have plenty of time for students (both in and outside the classroom).

Do you want to feel like you know everybody? One of the most enticing features of a liberal arts college is that in very little time, you can feel like you know who’s who, which can create strong friendships and make walks across campus more fun. While your sports teams may never be on ESPN, it’s more likely that you’ll know the athletes as your peers.

Beyond student and faculty relationships, it’s not unusual for the school president and other administrators to learn who you are. When faced with problems with your student account or the need to switch classes, this can be comforting during a stressful moment.

Learn more about liberal arts colleges by reading about the best liberal arts colleges in the US.

Online colleges are typically the same colleges and universities you could attend in-person, but for certain degree programs the college or unviersity has made the degree programs available to be completed online. For over 5 million students, online degree programs allow students to earn their degrees in the most flexible format available.

Online degrees are as respected as the on-campus degrees you could earn from the same schools. There’s usually no distinction between the two degrees, and your degree and transcript will not say that the degree was earned online.

Online degree programs are offered by a vast majority of colleges and universities, and the number of offering continues to grow. Whether you are searching for an associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctorate, there’s a good chance you can earn your degree online from a respectable online college.

Are you a self-driven student? Perhaps the hardest aspect of obtaining an online degree is whether you will be disciplined enough to manage your time and course demands.

Many online students report that online college made them more disciplined in all areas of their lives, but the flexible, self-paced learning that makes online colleges attractive can often be the same qualities that make it difficult. If you tend to be a procrastinator, you need to be honest with yourself. You can change your habits and propensities, or you can throw money down the drain.

Do you need the flexibility of an online degree program? Most online students study online because of time demands of balancing work and life, or because the online college affords them the chance to attend a better school without moving.

If you are serious about earning your degree for career advancement, online colleges make it possible. The most flexible options among online degrees are those that are asynchronous, meaning you don’t have scheduled times to meet with your class online. However, many students seek synchronous online degree programs so that they have some structure – set meeting times, scheduled exams, etc.

The good news is that attending an online college doesn’t mean you will miss out on getting to know your professors and classmates. In fact, many online students who have experienced both online and on-campus courses report having easier access to their professors.

Since most communication with your professor is expected to be in text – via email or your class learning management system – it makes asking your questions easier. The same students also report that they got to better know the thoughts of their classmates. While in-person course conversations can be dominated by a few extroverts, online courses that require online discussions make it so that you see all of your classmates’ thoughts and questions.

If you’re interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

The Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

University of Pennsylvania
Columbia University
MIT – Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Michigan
Cornell University

Go to The Best Business Major Research Universities

Claremont McKenna College
United States Military Academy
San Francisco State University
California State University, Long Beach
University of Richmond

Go to The Best Business Major Liberal Arts Colleges

University of Arizona
University of Missouri
Arizona State University
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Arkansas

Go to The Best Business Major Online Colleges

An international business degree can help students build skills and competencies that open career opportunities in a wide range of fields. Find out what you can do with an international business degree.

Career Outlook for Students with Business Degree

Go to Degree Finder tool

Business/Commerce

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Location: The U.S. (Private Schools)
Avg. Starting Salary*: $43,769
Avg. Salary after 4 Years*: $54,786
* denotes ‘annually’

Career Salaries

Career	Job Growth	Avg. Salary
Chief Executives	-8.21%	$161,191
Sales Managers	4.06%	$117,002
Industrial Production Managers	1.62%	$106,425
Managers, All Other	3.35%	$106,040
Construction Managers	4.53%	$98,198
Administrative Services Managers	5.62%	$97,293
Facilities Managers	4.57%	$95,139
General and Operations Managers	4.20%	$94,699
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	8.21%	$93,419
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	7.01%	$86,765

Average Career Salaries

Bottom 10%	Median	Top 10%
$56,229	$96,321	$154,377

Promising Job Markets

State	Cost of Living	Avg. Salary
#2 Virginia	5% higher than average	$112,729
#3 New York	5% higher than average	$122,670
#4 Alabama	13% higher than average	$95,411
#5 Illinois	7% higher than average	$102,218
#6 Delaware	2% higher than average	$111,968
#7 Georgia	13% higher than average	$94,298
#8 Ohio	14% higher than average	$93,435
#9 New Jersey	13% higher than average	$122,331
#10 Louisiana	9% higher than average	$96,284
#11 Texas	10% higher than average	$95,519
#12 Colorado	3% higher than average	$109,977
#13 Michigan	15% higher than average	$90,240
#14 Tennessee	14% higher than average	$91,098
#15 Missouri	16% higher than average	$88,611
#16 Wisconsin	7% higher than average	$98,251
#17 Minnesota	4% higher than average	$99,755
#18 Kansas	9% higher than average	$95,275
#19 North Carolina	11% higher than average	$91,543
#20 Washington	7% higher than average	$109,281
#21 West Virginia	11% higher than average	$90,461
#22 South Carolina	8% higher than average	$93,451
#23 Kentucky	14% higher than average	$86,953
#24 Florida	6% higher than average	$93,138
#25 Pennsylvania	5% higher than average	$93,176
#26 Indiana	11% higher than average	$86,745
#27 South Dakota	7% higher than average	$90,029
#28 Utah	4% higher than average	$92,834
#29 Arizona	5% higher than average	$91,934
#30 Arkansas	16% higher than average	$80,604
#31 Rhode Island	20% higher than average	$114,351
#32 New Mexico	7% higher than average	$88,646
#33 Iowa	9% higher than average	$86,426
#34 Oklahoma	13% higher than average	$82,470
#35 Nebraska	6% higher than average	$89,080
#36 Connecticut	18% higher than average	$111,627
#37 Wyoming	2% higher than average	$90,898
#38 New Hampshire	13% higher than average	$104,036
#39 Mississippi	18% higher than average	$75,081
#40 Massachusetts	24% higher than average	$110,834
#41 Maryland	18% higher than average	$105,475
#42 Montana	3% higher than average	$85,894
#43 North Dakota	average	$88,968
#44 Oregon	11% higher than average	$97,939
#45 California	26% higher than average	$109,784
#46 District of Columbia	49% higher than average	$123,849
#47 Idaho	7% higher than average	$75,884
#48 Vermont	13% higher than average	$91,335
#49 Alaska	23% higher than average	$99,263
#50 Nevada	5% higher than average	$83,009
#51 Maine	9% higher than average	$84,572
#52 Hawaii	40% higher than average	$95,747

Top Industries

Industry	Avg. Salary
Chief Executives	$161,191
Sales Managers	$117,002
Industrial Production Managers	$106,425
Managers, All Other	$106,040
Construction Managers	$98,198
Administrative Services Managers	$97,293
Facilities Managers	$95,139
General and Operations Managers	$94,699
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers	$93,419
Business Teachers, Postsecondary	$86,765

Data from The Bureau of Labor Statistics, The Department of Education College Scorecard, The Department of Education NCES, and The Council for Community and Economic Research.

Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Bachelor’s Degrees

The Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

Best Business Major Research Universities

Best Business Major Liberal Arts Colleges

Best Business Major Online Colleges

Career Outlook for Students with Business Degree

Business/Commerce

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Career Salaries

Average Career Salaries

Promising Job Markets

Top Industries

The Best Business Schools in Your State

Learn More About Business

Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

Featured Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Business Bachelor’s Degrees

What can I do with a business administration major?

Is business administration a good major?

What courses will I take as a business administration major?

What jobs can I do with a business administration major?

The Best Colleges and Universities for Business Degrees

Best Business Major Research Universities

Best Business Major Liberal Arts Colleges

Best Business Major Online Colleges

Career Outlook for Students with Business Degree

Business/Commerce

Degree Level: Bachelor's

Career Salaries

Average Career Salaries

Promising Job Markets

Top Industries

The Best Business Schools in Your State

Learn More About Business