University of Akron

For what it is, UA works.
In all reality, universities, regardless of whether you’re going to a community, public, or Ivy League school, are what you make of them. If you want to learn massive amounts, make connections with the professional world, and participate in some recreational activities, any university can give that to you. Some, obviously, attract different sets of students, but overall they’re all basically the same.
The University of Akron is a good school if you take it seriously. No one is going to baby-​sit or hand-​hold you here. Overall, I’ve never had any major issues with a professor with the exception of two. One was, plain and simply, a jerk, and I honestly think he was just burnt out and jaded. The other was on the upper end of the age range and probably losing a few marbles here and there.
I would say that 90% of the professors I’ve had were really quite good. The kind of people that you could respect, seek out for help, and generally shoot-​the-​shit with. I’m in the accounting program, so I can’t speak for the rest of the colleges, but all of my business classes have been really quite good.
It can be frustrating for non-​traditional students to take evening classes, especially when certain classes are only offered during the day, and times when a test is in the computer-​based testing lab, it can be particularly frustrating to get into there given their hours. The computer labs in CBA are well-​equipped and numerous, I’ve never gone in there and not found an open PC.
UA has done quite a bit to beautify the campus and build/​remodel buildings that appeal to the more modern students. They have built several new parking decks, but it can still be quite a trek depending on where you can *find* parking and where your class is. The new wellness center is quite beautiful as well as the Student union. I’m probably one of the few current students who remembers the Gardner student center, but consider yourself incredibly lucky to have the new student union.

I went here for 3 ½ years — 4 if you include the semester of post-​sec I suffered through. Like Taylor and 80% of the student body (note: that is not an official statistic, although it should be), I was a commuter student at Akron from when I started until the time I graduated. Akron is designed exclusively for the automobile. There is frequent congestion around campus — especially on Buchtel Ave. — and parking is hazardous the first week or two of each semester, but I have noticed an overall improvement in parking from when I started to when I graduated summa cum laude.
University Park isn’t exactly a safe neighborhood. Most of the students live south of Exchange Street, and that’s where most of the parties are. There are some major league assholes in Akron, but most people will find that the average person is laid-​back, chill, and not wanting any problems. There are also students living in Highland Square, which is 2 miles from campus, and east of Route 8 — also part of University Park. I like to say that the farther away from the University of Akron you get, the more dangerous it gets. I know many people who would party on Sumner St. on a Friday night, but wouldn’t be caught dead at the corner of Arlington & Johnston Sts. on that same night, if you catch my drift.
The sports teams range from inept and futile (e.g., football) to successful (e.g., men’s basketball and track & field) to completely dominant (e.g., men’s soccer). Akron’s only MAC Championship in football came in 2005, when Akron came from behind on a last-​second TD from Luke Getsy to a vomiting Domenik Hixon to win over NIU 31 – 30. If Akron hadn’t won its first-​ever National Championship in any sport in December 2010 — in men’s soccer, of course — I would have probably had to write an entire paragraph on the 2005 MAC Championship Game to cover up the fact that we suck at football.
Akron’s strengths are its Student Recreation & Wellness Center, the accessibility and helpfulness of its professors, Polymer Science, Political Science, and Engineering. I’ve worked with UAPD for over a year now, and while they aren’t perfect, they’re doing all they can to make it safe to party on a Friday night. I’d also consider the President, Dr. Proenza, to be a strength — I’ve met him on numerous occasions, and he is a nice guy on top of being the guy holding the magical orb in all the Super Bowl commercials. Also, I’d recommend the AK-​Rowdies to any Akron student. They are the best student section in the nation, hands down. We made opposing goalies break down and flip us off regularly when I was in it.
Akron’s weaknesses are the lack of residential students (Akron’s trying to change that), its reputation as a college for single mothers trying to pick up where they left off in college after having children, a relative lack of consistently decent bars on Exchange St. or in Downtown, excessive traffic enforcement in the area by the Staties, parking, and a lack of funding in some departments.
As a high schooler, Akron was not my first choice — not even close. However, looking back, I had a blast at Akron and met many lifelong friends and colleagues. Akron is possibly the most overlooked university in Ohio.
It’s 8:23 pm, and Kent State still sucks.