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.
In addition to its strong curriculum, expert faculty members and biblical integration, Biola’s business administration program offers several key advantages:
- 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.
- Biola allows students to connect their classroom knowledge to real-world experience by requiring all students to complete an internship and gain other practical experience during their program.
- Biola offers opportunities for students to receive mentorship and close relationships with Crowell’s esteemed faculty. Additionally, incoming students receive mentoring and guidance from upper-division students to set them up for maximal success.
- Biola’s AI Lab equips students to understand and responsibly utilize AI in a moral and ethical manner, rooted in Christian values. Additionally, Crowell offers a distinct AI Venture Studio where students can get practical experience using AI to innovate and problem-solve in business.
- To prepare students for career success, Crowell requires business undergraduates to participate in a career workshop each semester and develop an ePortfolio website — a professional web presence that will showcase your academic and professional experience to recruiters.
- Crowell hosts a variety of events throughout the year, inviting accomplished business leaders to share insights at the EngageX series, fostering kingdom entrepreneurship and innovation in students with the Biola Startup Competition and encouraging women in the working world at the Woven Conference.
- Biola offers career-oriented clubs like the Biola Financial Planning Association and Biola Entrepreneurship Society for students to learn from and network with professionals.
Concentrations
- Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence
The business analytics and artificial intelligence concentration prepares you with the tools and techniques you need to succeed in an increasingly data-driven business world. Through coursework 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.
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Career Outlook and Preparation
What can you do with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration?
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
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.
8% job growth
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for advertising, promotions and marketing managers is projected to be faster than average between 2023 and 2033.
BLS projections are not specific to Biola University students or graduates.
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
Students can get a substantial business degree or science degree anywhere, but there are very few places that provide an immersive experience in vocational discovery and furthering theological belief in God.
Business Administration, B.S. '19
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
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.
