Our best sport?

[Guest UA Fan]

Arguably, it's the UA Engineering Teams. OK, not actually a sport, but they just garnered another 1st place finish in Aero and a 2nd in Baja. Check out the news at www.uakron.edu

Let's hope the other sports can catch up to that level of performance.

[I_Miss_You_Trey_71603]

I think the men's soccer team does pretty well. They went to the NCAA this year.

[Guest MegaZip]

Men's Soccer is by far the best sport at Akron U. It has the best coach and the best national reputation. This is a no brainer.

[Zipsrifle]

I'd have to say Rifle..but I'm also a little bias. They've been steadily improving over the last 10 years or so. I will not be at all surprised if this year they again win both leagues and are invited to their first NCAA Championship.

Outside of the range, I'd have to say it is the soccer team. I believe that no one takes Akron lightly when they play them. Hopefully the guys can keep winning and establish Akron as a national power.

As for the Engineering teams, we are the school to beat. If there was an "All Sports" award for the SAE competitions, Akron would have probably won it 7 of the last 10 years. Unfortunately, this is apparently not a metric used to judge undergraduate Engineering programs. I don't understand how our program can be ranked much lower than other schools when we kill them when it comes to applying those principles year in and year out. Tell you what though, it shuts up Purdue, Michigan, and OSU grads really quick when they start boasting about how much better there school is than Akron.

[Guest UA Fan]

  As for the Engineering teams,  we are the school to beat.  If there was an "All Sports" award for the SAE competitions, Akron would have probably won it 7 of the last 10 years.  Unfortunately, this is apparently not a metric used to judge undergraduate Engineering programs.  I don't understand how our program can be ranked much lower than other schools when we kill them when it comes to applying those principles year in and year out.  Tell you what though, it shuts up Purdue, Michigan, and OSU grads really quick when they start boasting about how much better there school is than Akron.

The college academic program rankings are largely subjective, based on reputation as measured by their peers at other institutions and Akron still has a ways to go in that regard. Most would probably argue that a handful of good students winning these competitions does not an outstanding department make. We would probably have to get to a point of competitive admissions, more renowned faculty, more research dollars, etc. to be ranked amongst the Purdues & Michigans. But hey, winning these competitions I think goes a long way toward earning respect and it has to be drawing more talented students to UA.

I would still argue that winning these engineering competitions outshines anything we have athletically. OK, we have 1 nat'l runner-up finish in soccer but we have won multiple SAE competitions over the best this country has to offer. Not to mention debate, moot court & surveying...

[Zip Watcher]

The college academic program rankings are largely subjective, based on reputation as measured by their peers at other institutions and Akron still has a ways to go in that regard.

I agree completely. Rankings of undergraduate programs mean pretty much nothing. If you're talking about graduate programs, they start to have more merit, since research dollars relate directly to the level of grad students you can attract and produce. For undergrads, having good teachers with well rounded, substantial and practical curricula is the key. Akron has that, and that's why it's among the best schools around.

Most would probably argue that a handful of good students winning these competitions does not an outstanding department make.

This I would disagree with. These competitiions are some evidence of the practical application of engineering theory, but they're usually not stacked with all of the so-called "good students." There's a wide variety of academic and practical experience among the student body & it takes a healthy balance to be successful in these competiitions. I led a team in a similar competition when I was an undergrad (at a Big East school) and we cherry picked the top guys in the classroom and had a lot of difficulty being successful.

What isn't talked about a lot in the news releases is UA's utter dominance in ASME as well. It's a good measure of the amount of activity outside the classroom available to students, and a good indicator of their ability to function as a group and lead. Seminars, tours .. etc. To my knowledge, in the midwest area, only Dayton has ever really competed with UA in this area. UA also has a very high success rate of its seniors in taking and passing the EIT exam.

Your comments above about Purdue and Michigan caught my eye. Columbus State is simply not even in the same league as PU, UM and UA. Some additional perspective you may find interesting:

I don't have an engineering degree from UA. I do however have a graduate ME degree from Purdue & spent several semesters as a TA for undergrad & grad classes while there. It is a good school, but it's HUGE. It's not easy, but you can make it through there without being real sharp as an engineer. PU is a monster grad program and I wouldn't trade my experience and time there for anything. But at the undergrad level, when you're graduating 200 or so seniors each year from the ME school alone, it's hard to be effective in the weedout process. A smaller department like Akron is usually a tougher program to survive and better able to push the students.

I now own & run an engineering development firm. The first guy that I hired on 4 years ago is an Akron ME. In all my experience in our industry (medical device), he's among the 3 or 4 best engineers I've ever encountered. He's EASILY the most creative in generating solutions to unique problems, and he's practical. Thus far, when looking for experienced new hires in our field, we've look around at a lot of different places and a few years into a career, the school becomes a little less of a factor.

However: when the day comes that our firm is ready and able to take on a fresh-out engineering grad or a co-op, it's likely we'll conduct our search in one place: Akron. As an ME school, it's simply that good. There are other places around here that people hold in much higher regard that I won't really ever look twice at. It's simply not a productive use of my time.

Believe the hype. It's got some serious legs behind it.

[Zipsrifle]

I mentioned the OSU thing because, for some reason, my company does a lot of recruiting at OSU. I firmly believe that the Athletic success of a school has a way of influencing how "Good" the Academic side of the school is.

I'm with ZW on the "handful" of students thing. I don't think there is any way it is a few exceptional students. If that were the case, we would only see a win in one or two areas every few years. This has been going on for over 10 years now.

I believe it is the culture that has developed in the bowels of Auburn that makes the program shine. From my experience, Akron may not have the top academic minds, but the background and work ethic that resides in ASEC is what makes the difference. I had many friends that were very good machinists. I also had friends that were older, had experience in industry and came back to UA for an Engineering degree. Then there were the kids right out of high school that knew what a good days work was. At some point, this combination started producing winners and the desire to succeed has carried down from class to class.

[Guest ZIPSKICKASS]

Who cares about Soccer? I was barely aware we had a Men's Soccer team. Hopefully in a few years Akron will be a Football school and have a team the Akron community, not just alum, can be proud of.

[Guest Deluxe Zip]

You are an idiot. I, too, hope we become a football school (we aren't that far off now), but to say "who cares about soccer" shows ignorance. As a true Zip, I hope we are extremely competitive in ALL areas we compete in.

Soccer is Futbal. Soccer is maybe THE internationally recognized sport. Akron Soccer finished the season in the TOP 20 NATIONALLY. And Akron Soccer is one of the big contributors to our rise in the Athletic Director's Cup. Don't know if you caught it on gozips but Akron was second in the conference in the national rankings.

Let's all pull together, ok?

[Guest ZIPSKICKASS]

Soccer will never do anything to promote our school to the public. It's pretty simple. While everyone else in the World might care about soccer, nobody in the USA does. Football is America's passion, and College Football and Basketball are all we care about at the collegiate level. Soccer could win the national championship at Akron and it'd be lucky to make the front page of the Beacon.

[Guest Deluxe Zip]

Yeah, but that's the Beacon's fault - hell they barely cover Zips football or basketball so why would they touch soccer?

I get the marketing part of football and basketball doing well. But don't think that just because YOU don't happen to care about soccer, no one else does. They get pretty good crowds at home soccer games, and people in the community DO realize how successful Akron U soccer is, because I hear it, even if you don't. Winning brings recognition, and men's soccer at Akron has earned accolades, whether you choose to support it or not.

[I_Miss_You_Trey_71603]

The Beacon covers men's basketball quite often.

[Guest Guest_Z.I.P.]

QUOTE: The Beacon covers men's basketball quite often

Correct! Cavaliers -- Columbus State -- Cavaliers -- Columbus State -- Cavaliers...

Can't State

Now, if we could just get them to notice the hometown school.

And, BTW: soccer is the most played sport in America by <19 Year olds. By the time our grandchildren are adults, the National Football League will be playing on a soccer pitch, rather than a football field.