Francis Marion University - School of Business

The School of Business at South Carolina’s Francis Marion University offers “excellent preparation for real-world business decision-making” in a “convenient” MBA program “scheduled in the evening to accommodate working students.” Since FMU is a state school, it does so at a price that doesn’t break the bank.

This small school—one of the smallest state universities to earn AACSB accreditation, according to the university’s public relations materials—offers a “challenging learning environment” in which “professors are easy to approach” and, consequently, the almost exclusively part-time student body “gets to know professors one on one.” FMU offers a general MBA that is designed to serve the general business population of the Pee Dee region and beyond.

All FMU MBAs must complete courses in accounting for management control, managerial economics, financial theory and applications, strategic management, management science and statistics, and marketing theory and application. Students in the general MBA program must also complete classes in financial accounting, information systems, international business, management theory and applications, production management, and entrepreneurship.

MBAs praise the program’s faculty, noting that “professors with real-world experience are integrated into active businesses and graduate programs.” Primarily, they appreciate the convenience afforded by the school’s location and scheduling, as well as the low cost of attending to Palmetto State natives.

FMU’s MBA program is too small to support career services dedicated exclusively to its students. MBAs receive career assistance from the university’s Office of Career Development, which serves undergraduates and graduates in all divisions. Students here also benefit from an active Alumni Association, whose newest chapter is the MBA Alumni Chapter.

FMU draws a “driven and goal-oriented” student body that is “culturally diverse and career diverse.” Life here is hectic, with most students juggling career and family obliga- tions in addition to school responsibilities. Because of the many demands on their time, most students have little inclination to join in extracurricular activities. The program offers “many organizations” to those interested, but students warn that “they aren’t as organized or publicized as well as they should be.”

The school does a better job with its cultural and entertainment offerings to the general student population, hosting a wide range of performances, exhibits, and lecture series. The school houses an art gallery that displays student and faculty work as well as travel- ing exhibitions, film series, a planetarium and observatory, concerts, and festivals. FMU’s Patriots are successful enough that the school plans to move its entire athletic program to Division I in the coming years; two teams already compete at that level, with the other ten currently competing in Division II.

FMU is located just outside of Florence, SC, a city with nearly 70,000 residents within its borders and its suburbs. Florence offers a number of movie theaters, malls, restaurants, a symphony orchestra, and professional hockey (the Pee Dee Pride skate in the East Coast Hockey League). The city is located at the intersections of I-95 and I-20, making travel in all four cardinal directions a snap. Columbia, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and Fayetteville, NC, are all within 100 miles.