Good evening all of us at All Sports Discussion. You’ve heard the saying: 99% of student athletes are not going play professional sports. That means they are going to have to have a plan after they graduate from college – and herein comes the value of being associated with the ACC
For example:
- According to a September 2010 Wall Street Journal article, several ACC schools make up an employment recruiter’s top 25 institutions for a job applicant pool. Georgia Tech (#7), Maryland (#8), Virginia Tech (#13), North Carolina State (#19), Virginia (#19), and North Carolina (#25) all faired well in the recruiter rankings.
- The 2012 U.S. News and World Report national university rankings provided some terrific news for the ACC. 10 of the ACC’s 12 schools are in the publication’s top 100 institutions – and all 12 are in the top 101. Only the Ivy League has more institutions in the top 40. Duke (#10), Virginia (#25), Wake Forest (#25), University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill (#29), Boston College (#31), Georgia Tech (#35), University of Miami (#38), University of Maryland – College Park (#55), Clemson (#68), Virginia Tech (#71), Florida State (#101), and North Carolina State (#101) all should be proud of their standing in this publication. Throw in future ACC members Pittsburgh (#58) and Syracuse (#62 ),and you see the conference leadership is continuing its focus on high quality academics.
- According to an article in the August 2012 issue of Forbes Magazine, there are five colleges listed in their top 20 public universities, including Virginia (#3), North Carolina (#7), Virginia Tech (#17), and Georgia Tech (#19).
The ACC is also unique in that it has established the ACC International Academic Collaborative (ACCIAC):
The mission of the ACCIAC is to leverage the athletic associations and identities among the 12 ACC universities in order to enrich the educational missions, especially the undergraduate student experiences, of member universities. The intent is to impact all students, not only student athletes. The strategy is to sponsor activities and programs that cannot be accomplished by any one university, and are best supported by universities‐acting‐in‐concert. By directly supporting academic initiatives, the ACC reinforces its conviction that strong academics and strong athletics go together, and it projects this message to its many stakeholders.
Academics matter at ACC universities – athletics are only part of the mission of schools – a school does not exist without students. And as the NCAA says every year, 99% of student athletes are not going play professional sports.
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