If you are looking for courses to pick for your undergraduate education, you may be presented with two popular options for courses. The BBA and the BSBA are both sought after programs that students at the undergraduate level often turn to. But when it comes to BBA vs BSBA, which one should you pick? The answer is not as simple as having a BBA vs BSBA debate. To decide which one is a better fit for you, you need to understand what each one of them offers and then measure different factors to ascertain how well they suit you.
BBA
BBA stands for Bachelor of Business Administration. It is a four-year bachelor’s degree that will acquaint you with concepts of business and administration with a focus on liberal arts. It is a comprehensive management degree that opens you up to better MBA schools should you want to pursue them. But other than making you familiar with business and management terms, you also have a deep understanding of the liberal arts which is important.
BSBA
A BSBA is a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. This is also a four-year degree with a focus on mathematics instead of liberal arts. The degree lays emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) courses so that students can build their analytical skills and have a calculated approach towards business and management.
Admission to both programs at the undergraduate level follows university standards, though BSBA requires you to have studied more years of mathematics at the school level.
What Kind of Jobs Do You Get after Each?
Both programs are business administration programs but they simply have a different approach. While one focuses on liberal arts courses, the other focuses on STEM courses. If there is any difference in the employment opportunities you can get after these programs, it is in this difference in approach.
The following are the type of employment opportunities you can get after pursuing a BBA degree:
- Accountant
- Financial Controller
- Human Resource Manager
- Operations Manager
- Real Estate Agent
- Commodities Trader
- Loan Officer
With a BSBA, you can widen your scope of employment as even the more technical and scientific fields open up to you. The following are the type of jobs you can do with a BSBA degree:
- Data Scientist
- Accountant
- Business Analyst
- Human Resources Management
- Financial Analyst
- Financial Manager
- Market Risk Associate
- Risk Assurance Associate
- Advertising and Promotions Specialist
Which One Should You Choose?
So let’s come to the final question. In the BBA vs BSBA battle, which degree comes off as the better one. Despite all the differences and similarities, there still cannot be a degree that is objectively better than the other.
Each individual must make their own choice depending on how different factors align for them and what their personal interests are. The following are some of the factors you may want to consider:
Tuition Fee
Both the four-year degrees are not that much different in tuition fees than any other bachelor’s degree. The cost of the tuition depends more on the school you pick and whether it is public or private. On average, you could have to pay between $40,000 and $50,000 for a full-time business management degree from a private university.
If you pursue the course online or from a public university, the tuition is likely to be a lot cheaper.
Return on Investment
The return on investment is based on the kind of jobs you get after completing your graduation. As has been made clear above, there are a variety of job opportunities after completing both degrees. However, the scope of employment is wider with a BSBA as you can also apply yourself to more technical and scientific fields. For example, you can become a data scientist after pursuing a BSBA but perhaps not after simply pursuing a BBA.
With both degrees, you can expect to earn six-figure salaries with certain jobs and perhaps more eventually. Your starting salary is unlikely to be a six-figure one. However, there has been evidence to suggest that the same jobs pay more to BSBA degree-holders than BBA degree-holders. For example, if you earn $41,333 – $69,316 as a financial analyst with a BBA, you may be paid $ 44,097 – $ 71,235 with a BSBA.
BSBA does seem to have an edge when it comes to return on investment.
Career Plans
The above section may have you convinced that BSBA is the better course. However, there is something called aptitude and it would be unfair to have students chase after one course over another simply for money if they have no aptitude for it. Some people may be better at grasping liberal arts concepts but scientific analysis may not be their strong point. Others may thrive in a scientific and mathematical background, but concepts of humanities and the liberal arts may be lost on them. In that case, you should pick a course you know you are better suited for based simply on your interests and your ability to grasp certain concepts. Even if you have no concrete career plans, assess your strengths and weaknesses and make a choice accordingly.
Final Thoughts
Both the degrees described above are sought after and coveted bachelor’s degrees. You would benefit from pursuing either, as long as you choose the degree you want to pursue for the right reasons and based on your personal interests.
For example, it would be unwise to choose the BSBA degree simply because it offers greater opportunities to make a higher salary if you cannot keep up with the course work. These are four years of your life and you do not want to spend your college years under duress and feeling miserable about the coursework.
Pick a course that you personally find inviting and interesting, as both courses cost approximately the same. Often, both the courses offer the same job opportunities so choose with confidence and good luck!