Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Overview
Business is one of the most impactful careers available for lives of service today. As a business administration major — the most popular program at Biola — you’ll learn to bring leadership, insight and strategic thinking to any workplace. Whether in a public or private company, known brand or entrepreneurial startup, your business administration degree from Biola’s Crowell School of Business will be valuable for a lifetime of impact.
If you are interested in earning a business degree online, consider the B.S. in Business Management degree.
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Concentrations
- Business Analytics
The business analytics concentration prepares you with the tools and techniques you need to succeed in an increasingly data-driven business world. Through coursework in that includes statistics, database and spreadsheet technologies, and machine learning techniques, you’ll be equipped to collect, evaluate and use data to help businesses become smarter, more strategic and better stewards of their resources. The program also integrates biblical values into your education, helping you to value people as God does — rather than reduce them to mere data and numbers. As one of the only undergraduate programs of its kind at a Christian university, the concentration offers you a running start into a growing career field, including such roles as business systems analyst, data analyst and business intelligence manager.
- EntrepreneurshipThe world is full of problems to solve, systems to improve and organizations to create. Students who want to bring their ideas to life and integrate creativity with practical business skills will appreciate the hands-on, forward-thinking approach of the entrepreneurship concentration.
- Finance
The finance concentration provides a foundational understanding on how to effectively and efficiently manage cash flow for a financial institution or organization, including for-profit, nonprofit or government. You will learn the necessary hard and soft skills to be successful in this field, from creating spreadsheets for business finance decisions to skills you need to be an effective leader. Courses — with topics including corporate finance, investments and organizational leadership — are biblically integrated, and will develop your understanding on how to integrate biblical values in an organization’s cash flow management. If you are fascinated by the financial market, detail-oriented and good with numbers, you should consider this concentration to pursue careers such as financial analyst, portfolio manager, financial consultant or research associate.
- Financial Planning
The financial planning concentration prepares you to be an effective financial adviser to individuals and families seeking to reach their financial goals. On top of your business education, this concentration will give you the financial knowledge you need to coach others on how to manage their finances — from taxes, debt, savings, real estate and retirement planning — and how to develop and implement an integrated financial plan for any individual or family.
Financial planning is a growing field and becoming increasingly service-oriented. The biblically integrated courses and your understanding of biblical values and stewardship will make you uniquely fit to serve Christian households. You will also gain hands-on, cross-cultural experiences working with organizations that offer services to underserved communities. With this concentration, you will launched into a proven career track as it qualifies you to take the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) examination.
- ManagementThe management concentration prepares you to become a strong business leader — someone with the innovation, creativity, critical thinking and people-management skills needed to help build a healthy organization. Through the concentration, you’ll learn about key management functions, including planning, organizing, leading and controlling. You’ll also develop an understanding of leadership principles, ethics, organizational behavior, human resources and other skills, equipping you for a wide range of business management careers in both the public and private sector.
- Marketing
The marketing concentration is a hands-on, experience-rich program that prepares you for the exciting and competitive world of marketing. The program’s coursework equips you to be an effective marketer who understands your business’ target audiences using research and then reaches them with strategic advertising, messaging, promotions and other tools. Throughout your time in the concentration, you’ll build a e-portfolio of marketing projects for real-world companies, setting you up for employment success straight out of college.
- Marketing ManagementThe marketing management concentration prepares you to be a well-rounded professional with a solid foundation in both the people-management and marketing aspects of business. With its wide introduction to such areas as organizational behavior, entrepreneurship, global marketing and advertising, the concentration equips you for a variety of leadership roles in small businesses and corporate settings, including such careers as marketing manager, director of brand management, integrated marketing strategist or social evangelist.
Why Choose Business Administration at Biola?
In addition to its strong curriculum, expert faculty members and biblical integration, Biola’s business administration program offers several key advantages:
- Biola prepares you for real-world success; in a recent survey, 98 percent of business graduates secured a job or enrolled in a graduate program within six months of graduation.
- Biola’s location in Southern California — one of the world’s largest and most diverse metropolitan areas — is ideal for internships and job opportunities.
- Biola equips you to pursue business as ministry, showing you what it means to serve Christ in the workplace.
- Biola’s Crowell School of Business has been accredited by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) since 1997.
What Will I Study?
The business administration program provides a comprehensive liberal arts background from a biblical perspective, while exposing you to and training you in specific key aspects of businesses operations such as:
- Human resource management
- Supply chain management
- Finances, including financial statements
- Marketing
- Business project management
- Business analytics
You'll learn to solve a variety of business challenges, including legal and ethical issues while earning your business degree alongside other future business professionals. This unique bachelor's degree program will also start the process of teaching you management skills crucial for making tough business decisions and train you in other broad career-relevant topics such as:
- Business integrity in a secular world
- Collection and presentation of business data
- International trade
- Fiscal and monetary policy
- Analysis of market outcomes
- Government regulation
- Employment and labor law
- Organizational behavior
- Global marketing management
- Management strategies
Biola's business program doesn't just prepare me for my career; it prepares me for my future.
I may not have been called to global mission fields like some friends at Biola, but God can still use us in our businesses to further his kingdom.
Business Administration, B.S. '15
One of the things I am definitely most appreciative of are the professors at Biola, who see you not as a number or "just another student," but rather as unique individuals created with the ability to impact the world in their own way. The amount of time my professors have poured into me, whether it be staying late after class, grabbing coffee or meeting on Zoom, has made a profound impact on my life.
Business Administration, B.S. '21
I am so thankful for how the curriculum and faculty/staff have built us into who we are today. I greatly appreciate Crowell and the care they bring to students at Biola.
Career Paths
As a highly skilled and technically competent business professional, you will be prepared to impact the world for Jesus Christ in fields such as law, accounting, international business, finance and marketing. Career options include professions such as:
- CEO
- CFO
- Stockbroker
- Business analyst
- Foreign service officer
- City manager
- Corporate auditor
- Human resources management
- Public relations specialist
- Marketing research analyst
What are Graduates Doing Now?
Many Crowell School of Business students pursue graduate studies while others have moved directly into professional roles at major corporations. Highlights include:
- Walt Disney Company
- Target
- KPMG
- Deloitte and Touche
- TOMS
- Transparent Productions
- Lord Abbett
- Entrepreneurship in day spas, clothing industry and restaurants
- Graduate studies at prestigious schools such as Biola's Crowell School of Business MBA program, University of California, Irvine; University of Southern California; University of California, San Diego; and the University of California, Los Angeles.
Crowell School of Business
