Business Administration BBA

4 Years On Campus Bachelors Program

University of San Diego

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Business Administration in Business Administration at the University of San Diego provides students with a broad understanding of how organizations operate, make decisions, and respond to changing business environments. Designed for students interested in management, entrepreneurship, consulting, or business leadership, the program combines accounting, finance, marketing, analytics, organizational behavior, and global business strategy while allowing students to personalize their studies through upper-division electives.

Curriculum Structure

Year 1: Students build their business foundation through economics, mathematics, and introductory business subjects. Courses such as Principles of Microeconomics, Principles of Macroeconomics, Information Systems, and Creating and Growing Sustainable Ventures introduce economic decision-making, digital business systems, and entrepreneurial thinking.

Year 2: Students develop financial literacy and commercial awareness through Principles of Financial Accounting, Principles of Managerial Accounting, Financial Management, and Fundamentals of Marketing. Stats for Business & Economics strengthens quantitative reasoning, helping students interpret business data and understand how organizations assess financial and market performance.

Year 3: The focus shifts toward people, business responsibility, analytics, and legal frameworks. Through Organizational Behavior, Foundations of Business Analytics, Business and Society or Business Ethics, and Business Law I, students explore how organizations manage teams, use information to guide decisions, and balance commercial objectives with ethical and legal responsibilities.

Year 4: Students bring their knowledge together through Operations Management and Global and Sustainable Business Strategy, while selecting upper-division electives in areas such as finance, management, marketing, and other business disciplines. This final stage helps students shape their academic interests around their intended career direction.

Focus Areas

Business administration, financial management, marketing, business analytics, organizational behavior, operations management, business ethics, business law, global business strategy, sustainable business, entrepreneurship, management

Learning Outcomes

Business decision-making, financial analysis, quantitative reasoning, data-informed problem-solving, organizational leadership, strategic planning, ethical judgment, understanding of global business environments, communication, business operations management

Professional Alignment (Accreditation)

The Knauss School of Business is accredited by AACSB International, a recognized accreditation body for business education. This provides an established quality framework for the school’s business programs.

Reputation (Employability and Outcomes)

For the University of San Diego’s Class of 2025 undergraduate graduates, 96% were employed, pursuing graduate study, serving in the military, or participating in full-time volunteer service. The Knauss School of Business reports an average undergraduate starting salary of $84,145 for the same graduating class; these figures are school-wide and are not specific to the Business Administration major.

Experiential Learning (Research, Projects, Internships etc.)

Students can connect business concepts with practical challenges through applied assignments, student-led business initiatives, and opportunities to work with real organizations. The major’s electives include projects such as developing marketing recommendations for a global company, while the Student International Business Council offers international business consulting experiences. Students can also explore entrepreneurship through the Fowler Business Concept Challenge, where participants develop business ideas and pitch them to investors.

Students can strengthen their professional readiness through the following opportunities:

International business consulting: Participate in an international business consulting project through the Student International Business Council.
Marketing analysis: In International Marketing, create a marketing analysis and develop recommendations for a global company.
Applied organizational learning: Explore workplace dynamics through activities such as the mini experiment in Women in Management and the Happiness Challenge in Organizational Behavior.
Entrepreneurship and pitching: Take part in the annual Fowler Business Concept Challenge, developing a business concept and presenting it to real investors for a chance to win scholarship money.
Career-readiness development: Complete the Knauss School of Business PASSPORT program, which supports resume development, networking, job-search techniques, interview preparation, and career exploration.
Employer engagement: Access career fairs, company visits, networking events, guest speakers, and mentoring opportunities facilitated through the school’s career development activities.

Progression & Future Opportunities

Graduates of the Business Administration BBA can pursue opportunities across management, business analysis, marketing, finance, operations, and entrepreneurship. The degree’s broad business foundation also supports students who wish to continue into graduate-level business education or develop a venture of their own.

Potential career paths include: Business Analyst, Management Trainee, Operations Coordinator, Business Development Associate

Career Development and Graduate Outcomes

Career preparation: The PASSPORT program is required for Knauss undergraduate business majors and develops job-search, resume-building, networking, interviewing, and career-exploration skills.
Employment outcomes: For the Class of 2025, 96% of Knauss undergraduate graduates were employed, pursuing graduate study, in the military, or participating in full-time volunteer service.
Salary information: The Knauss School of Business reported an average undergraduate starting salary of $84,145 for the Class of 2025.
Industry connections: The school facilitates employer engagement through career fairs, company visits, networking events, guest speakers, mentoring, and its employer recruiting platform. Employers can also post jobs and internships through Handshake.
Employer examples: USD graduate employment records include organizations such as Deloitte, EY, PwC, Amazon, Qualcomm, CBRE, and General Atomics. These are university-wide graduate employer examples, not guaranteed recruiters for this major.
Accreditation value: AACSB accreditation provides an internationally recognized quality framework for business education at the Knauss School of Business.

Further Academic Progression: Graduates may pursue an MBA or other postgraduate business qualifications in areas such as finance, management, business analytics, or related fields. The university also identifies graduate business study as one of the pathways available to Business Administration majors.