If you're thinking about earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) in the near future, you're not alone. The BSBA is a popular degree for both online and traditional students, due to its versatility and high recognition among employers as well as educational institutions.

Behind the popularity of business education

According to a 2016 survey by The Learning House, the BSBA was easily the most popular degree option for online undergraduate students. More specifically, it accounted for 26 percent of their degrees that year, a full 10 percentage points ahead of the second-place finisher, health and medicine. Business was also the number one major for online graduate students.

These numbers align with broader statistics on business education. Since the early 1980s, business has been the most frequently awarded bachelor's degree; the U.S. National Center for Education Statistics revealed that more than 363,000 such degrees were granted during the 2014-2015 school year.  While there's no doubt the BSBA and related degrees – including the including the Master of Business Administration (MBA) – are popular, why are so many students eager to take the business track?

The educational and professional benefits of earning a BSBA

Like other business degree tracks such as the MBA, the BSBA provides flexibility and practical background for students, which translates into many rewarding career options. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) estimated that the median salary for all business and financial occupations was more than $66,000 in May 2016, well ahead of the $37,040 median for all occupations.

In addition to the potential for relatively high earning, BSBA holders also benefit from:

• Exposure to the most recent theories and practices for organizational management.
• Daily practice with common financial, HR and communication tools.
• Coursework in business ethics and analytical techniques.
• Experience in working with other students on team projects.
• Options for specific concentration areas, such as healthcare administration.
• Preparation for later graduate education such as an MBA.

You can think of the BSBA as the educational equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife. A typical curriculum might include a wide variety of courses covering topics in economics, statistics, writing, accounting, marketing, information technology and supply chain management. With such a broad conceptual and practical background, students emerge with BSBAs are well-equipped to explore many career paths and additional education options.

At the same time – as we saw in the numbers from Learning House – the BSBA is uniquely suited to an online format. It doesn't typically require any extensive in-person meetings or other activities that would necessitate a specialized setting. This is good news for students looking for maximum flexibility as they plan the next stages of their educations and careers.

Earn your online BSBA at Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Mercy University offers several options for business education, including online tracks toward a BSBA. Online BSBA students benefit from the accelerated format, in which courses are offered one at a time in five-weeks blocks.

This setup is ideal for students who need to keep working while they earn their degrees. Moreover, the experienced and friendly personnel within the program make BSBA attainment as straightforward as possible.

"The staff is very approachable and easy to get along with," stated GMercyU BSBA student Rasha Heath.

Interested in earning a BSBA from GMercyU from the convenience of your home? You can get started by learning more about your business education options on our main program page, where you can also contact counselor for additional info.

Online degrees are relatively new creations, having only emerged during the 1990s alongside consumer-grade internet service in many parts of the world. These degree programs now offer many of the same subjects, credentials and accreditations as their traditional counterparts. Accordingly, they have become very popular options for attaining degrees of all kinds, due to their convenience as well as their increasing quality and parity with classroom-based instruction:

• The 2016 "Online Report Card: Tracking Online Education in the United States" report, from Babson Survey Research Group, estimated that 5.8 million students were enrolled in online classes in 2014. That represented a 3.9 percent increase from the previous year.
• Growth in online/distance learning programs is strongest among not-for-profit public and especially private institutions. It is much weaker among for-profit colleges and universities, which actually saw their online enrollments drop by almost 3 percent between 2013 and 2014.
• The percentage of academic leaders who rated online learning outcomes as similar or superior to face-to-face equivalents was 71.4 percent in 2015. That is a drop from 77 percent in 2014, but a dramatic improvement over the 57.2 percent reading from 2003, when online education was still in its infancy.

It is clear that online degrees are generally held in high regard by academic institutions and by the students who benefit from the added flexibility. But how are these credentials assessed by employers?

How employers look at online degrees

The good news is that employers usually view online degrees in a similar light to traditional degrees, as long as several key criteria are satisfied. Not all online degrees are created equal (and neither are in-person degrees); so much depends upon the institution granting the degree and whether it is accredited. Some employers may also prefer a degree from a not-for-profit school to one from a for-profit college or university.

Depending on the hiring process, it may not even emerge that your degree was earned online, unless you volunteer the information. The similarity in curricula between online and on-campus programs is such that, with a legitimately earned degree from a reputable institution, you should have equivalent knowledge and skills to anyone who attended all of his/her classes in-person.

However, if your online degree does become the center of conversation during an interview, be prepared to explain why you took the distance learning route. Honest answers usually reflect well here, in some cases transforming an interviewer's initial skepticism into admiration of your dedication. For example, selecting an online degree track for its elimination of long-distance travel to and from campus might demonstrate your ability in finding a program that can fit into your busy work schedule. Time management and self-motivation are other skills that online learners are often well-positioned to show during interviews.

What online degrees should you earn?

Regardless of what field of study most interests you, there is an educational institution that offers a related online degree program. Many degrees that open up a lot of high-paying career options are available online; these credentials include the popular Master of Business Administration (MBA), the similar Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA), RN-to-BSN completion tracks for licensed nurses and the various master's degrees required for administrative positions in education (such as school principal).

Ideally, these online degrees and all others will offer a convenient format, rigorous curricula and accessible instructors who can be consulted along the way. We offer these benefits at Gwynedd Mercy University. Learn more by visiting our main online programs page today.