The Pee Dee region of South Carolina is lucky to have a great university like Francis Marion. I am…read morea proud FMU alum, and so is my husband. We have three FMU degrees collectively in our household, and we met there- which means FMU has a special place in my heart. In fact, the university's Alumni Cottage was our wedding venue. I spent four wonderful years of my life at FMU and was involved in various aspects of campus life. I lived on campus and felt like I got an excellent education value for my money. The campus is a bit isolated from Florence, but most everyone either commuted or had a car. With college, you get what you put in, but Francis Marion gave me chances to excel. I majored in English (Professional Writing), and I completed an internship as well as writing for the student newspaper. I graduated in 2007 and received a job offer within a month. Others in my graduating class received offers fairly quickly or were accepted into graduate school. The company I work for has several interns from FMU as well as many employees who started out as interns. No college is cheap, but FMU is one of the more affordable universities in SC, especially if you receive state scholarships. The university is fairly small and professors know your name- you are never just a number at FMU. On the flip side, this means students are held accountable for coming to class and completing assignments, which gives the university a reputation of "easy to get in, tough to get out". However, my family can attest that a hard-earned FMU degree is worth the work!

All hail my Alma Matar. I'm more than grateful to be an alumni of The Illustrious Francis Marion…read moreUniversity. I just recently took my son there to tour the campus and I was so proud of the memories but also of the growth that has taken place in the last twenty years. My son was excited and so was I. I think I was a lil too excited because I ended up conducting the tour. Josh was a great tour guide but he let me bask in my memories. Francis Marion really did set me up for success because I graduated with a job already in tow. Thanks FMU for all of the unforgettable memories!

As former student, I can definitely tell you to not enroll your kids there. Pretty much all of my…read moreteachers have barely taught anything. I am surprised I even passed because there would rarely be any class work other than an English and math program on the computers. The teacher always yell, for no reason. The food? The fish tastes like they got it out the dumpster. There were kids literally spitting it out. The cafeteria lady always yells. The custodian accused me of spilling popcorn when I didn't even have popcorn on me. And then she got the attitude that I am straight up lying in her face. Bottom line for this? She needs to clean up between every lunch so she doesn't go around and accusing me of spilling stuff on the floor when I never did. Oh yeah and she was only accusing me. So that probably means she is a bit racist. (I thought the district policy was they will not tolerate racism) Another thing, one sub is horrible. Matter of fact, I'm going to say her name. Ms. Scott, did not let us use the bathroom at all. She didn't care if it was an emergency or not. Isn't that illegal? This school does not deserve a "Blue Ribbon lighthouse award". Believe me, there are a lot of things these judges did not see. For example, there are kids vaping. Someone even brought a knife. And I definitely saw a dead roach in the hallway. Also, a teacher I had just straight up ignored my emails. Probably explains her 18,000 unread emails. The playground equipment was rusting, and teachers don't care what happens at all. I would definitely give this school 0 stars if I could. Avoid this at all costs!!! So much more to say, but here is a poem for the summary. Teachers don't care if you slap, Teachers don't care if you cap, Teachers don't care if you nap; Don't go to this school, You'll thank me for this rule. Thank you for your time.

At the beginning of the school year, we really didn't know how our child would do in LTD. He…read morewasn't use to standardize testing after spending kindergarten in Montessori. The teachers and staff here have been nothing short of wonderful teaching our child. Our son looks forward to testing now that he knows it's based on subjects he has learned and he has studied. Besides the quality of education our child is receiving, we enjoy the school outings. Harvest night was creative and enjoyable.