The University of Akron — Attraction in Akron

Class of 2014 here. I thoroughly enjoyed my four years at UA. I was a short-distance commuter student from Highland Square, but still got a totally “normal” college experience. I had a good group of friends, a solid professional network (to this day), helpful professors, and attended a lot of fun campus events/parties/athletics. For an urban area, the campus is gorgeous and the facilities are relatively new (union, football stadium, wellness center etc.).

I graduated on a Saturday and started a high paying job in my field that next Monday. Does it get much better than that? Not if you’re like most of us and going to school to get a job. If that is my measure of my time at Akron, then it was perfect. It was only after graduating that I realized how much my program was recognized nationally for its quality and outcomes.

My only complaints were the weather and city; two things of which UA has no control over. The city of Akron is objectively not that nice of the place (look up those reviews), nor is it an easy area to start a good career. Most of the city is dilapidated, low socioeconomic status, dangerous, trashy, heroin-ridden, and lacking opportunity. I was not from Akron, so this was a bit depressing for me. If you’re from NEOH, you’re probably used to this and it won’t effect you. That said, UA is a diamond in the rough in this town. I am male, but I never felt unsafe on the actual campus. Everything around campus is a different story. Be diligent anywhere south of Exchange St.

A lot of negative reviews I see on here are from people who needed more hand-holding through the admissions and financial aid processes. NEWS FLASH: Financial aid sucks at every university in the US. It is a federal program and the process is the same everywhere you go. Most financial aid coordinators are paid like $12-$15 an hour, and that is also universal. You need to adjust your expectations for that process or vote for different politicians. I don’t know what else to tell you.

All together, I’d recommend UA to most people depending on your field. It’s certainly way better than that other school down I-76...

Although I absolutely loved the counseling services offered here, my professors at Wayne campus were awesome, the gym on main campus is awesome. My biggest problem here is from department to department there are students responding to emails and answering phone calls. They lack the basic understanding or even people skills honestly to interact with the public or answer questions. Maybe it’s because I’m 29, so I look older. I just feel like regardless of age, it was VERY difficult getting support here, or finding consistent answers. If you hire students for this positions, they should be taught how to give grace and empathy. Personally, I have a learning disability and due to not being in school for 10 years, I hadn’t had an IEP and I wasn’t sure how to get about getting one. My physical appearance doesn’t warrant for help, I seem independent, so when I would reach out for help, I would get confused looks, or just attitudes as if I just need to figure it out alone. Eventually I found Mrs. Juanita at counseling services, and she was very helpful at the ending of my spring semester. Unfortunately I never got my IEP plan here just due to the frustration of not being heard in the mist of attempting to fix issues, so I chose to not re enroll. I will say, they WILL fix a problem, but all the hoops and holes you have to jump through is ridiculous. I’m mentally exhausted. Being an older student returning to school after so long, I would think they would have some type of support group or something in place. I felt very lost and alone here. The underlying shame of having to return to school surrounded by young adults is already overwhelming, but to receive shameful looks or consistently deal with passive aggressive attitudes is a lot and makes the shame worse. I wouldn’t recommend main campus at all. Wayne campus is smaller, everyone is more helpful, and they help...

The school is a good school but getting into the school was the hard part. I worked with financial aid for 2 months trying to get all the paperwork they needed to administer my aid and the 2nd week of school my classes were dropped. I tried to explain the situation to the bursar office since they were the ones who dropped my classes but the office was extremely rude to me and would not help me what so ever.I ended up having to run to all of my professors to get signatures from them to get my classes back and ended up losing my chemistry lab class because someone took my spot before I could resolve the issue. This was absolutely frustrating! So now my schedule is messed up because I have to take the lab before I can sign up for Chem 2 which they do not offer in the fall and therefore I am also trying to scramble to fill my schedule with enough credits to be full time so my aid will not be dropped. I almost dropped out of the school because no one but financial aid would help me and I ended up getting zeros on quizzes from my classes because I was trying to resolve the issue and did not make it to class, which has hindered me from getting an A in my calculus class. If you're a transfer student I would be careful because you might have to jump through many hoops to be able to come here, and that still might...