Shippensburg University - John L. Grove College of Business

Founded in 1971, Shippensburg University’s John L. Grove College of Business is one of the premier business schools in the Mid-Atlantic, offering three different options for its MBA program: a part-time night program for working professionals (93 percent of students are part time), a full-time cohort program for recent college graduates and young professionals, and an entirely online program. The school’s numerous satellite campuses in Harrisburg, York, and East Stroudsburg offer the convenience and proximity that many of those who attend Shippensburg rank highest on their list of priorities, and the administration is “very flexible with class scheduling and seem to try and accommodate everyone within the three different branch campuses.” “From what I know, they are doing a good job running the program,” says a student.

Overall, students come here because “Shippensburg offers a great curriculum for the cost.” Though the student body is “sometimes challenged with students lacking ‘realworld’ experience,” the conversation and discussion is “animated and good when properly facilitated and creates a great learning environment.” The faculty are “good— some are great,” but their grading standards are sometimes too forgiving: “they pass everyone,” according to one student. One plus that students commend is the faculty’s willingness “to be available for contact almost all the time.” Small class sizes and a “good use of technology” also facilitate “an intimate learning experience between professor and student.”

The school’s reputation proceeds it within the central Pennsylvania area, and a Shippensburg MBA usually serves the intended purpose of the student, which is to receive an accredited MBA; whether they are trying to switch careers or advance within a current one, most students will take care of their professional development goals on their own. There are no options for students to focus on one area in the MBA program, which a few do regret, but students agree that they “would highly recommend the program to prospective students.” “I have been impressed and thoroughly pleased,” says one.

It’s a busy life for most of those who attend Shippensburg, who are often “older, non-tra- ditional students” who come to campus just for classes—the part-time program is two classes a night, one night a week—and then duck out to attend to personal responsibili- ties. “I work nine to ten hours a day, then take two classes away from the main campus. I don’t have time to become involved in much else,” says a student, who is one of many who prefer to keep their experience “simple and basic.” Students are “accepting, caring, and helpful” and range from fresh-out-of-school grads to veterans of the working world, with a fair number of “mid-level employees of government or local companies” enrolling in the part-time program.

Those who attend classes at the satellite campuses, mainly “working professionals from a diverse range of businesses,” “do not have the interactions that people from the main campus do.” Most clubs and activities meet in the late afternoon and so are reserved for full-time students, and part-time students do wish that the school was better at “making the business clubs more accessible to working professionals.” Within class, people find a “very good camaraderie” and fellow students that are “open-minded in group situations and overall supportive and collaborative.”