What Is the best FIRST state.

[Alaina]

I'm going to have to say New Hampshire is the best FIRST state...Can anyone guess why?

[Carter]

seeing how everybody thinks different about what is the best First state. i know how we can all come to terms with it okay... In Florida we have 179 they are cool right??? yeah i like them lol... but the best First state is FLORDA bc one everybody loves PINK and we got the pink team 233 and second 79 and 179 are cool too. so i think Florida is the best lol. we many not have any champships but thats bc we are saving them so that we can win 10 in row for the next ten years lol j/k. but really all the state are good if you compare robots to robots.

[tiffany34990]

Originally Posted by Carter

seeing how everybody thinks different about what is the best First state. i know how we can all come to terms with it okay... In Florida we have 179 they are cool right??? yeah i like them lol... but the best First state is FLORDA bc one everybody loves PINK and we got the pink team 233 and second 79 and 179 are cool too. so i think Florida is the best lol. we many not have any champships but thats bc we are saving them so that we can win 10 in row for the next ten years lol j/k. but really all the state are good if you compare robots to robots.

lol...good one...

and HEY HEY don't forget about S.P.A.M. 180! and of course 312, 168, 108, 1083....so many great Floridan teams...and Florida is great too because we had Nationals @ Epcot

this is tooo hard though to say which is the best....

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

I dont know...out of the 16 people who voiced an opinion about the "best FIRST state", 81% voted for the state/province listed in their personal location.

There's no real answer here. Run all the stats you want, but the point is that there is no best FIRST state. They can not be compared against eachother since there is no equal playing field for them to be compared upon: land mass, industry makeup, taxes/gov't funding, even quality of life factor in. So, until we can agree on a metric to define the point of this post, there's just no way to answer this.

Jessica, you would make a fine engineer.

***
PS - I have been to every state, except for Alaska, so I think that makes me very qualified to identify the best FIRST state, and I declare it to be Indiana.
***

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

If we look at it by national championships, Michigan wins, followed by Indiana and California.

Michigan - 8.5
California - 5
Indiana - 5
Ohio - 2.5
Connecticut - 2
Massachusetts - 2
New Jersey - 1
Delaware - 1
Illinois - 1
New York - 1
Texas - 1

North Carolina has one as well, the 2004 Robodawgs (435). The robodawgs have also captured 13 regional awards (and they've only been around since 2000!), including 2 VCU Chairmans. But 1 team does not make a state.
My vote for best state, Michigan. Why?
Multiple national chairmans, and national titles. This site we're on, a Michigan team made it. The 2nd most teams of any state (93). More division winners this year than any other state. Not one, but TWO champions this year. Oh yeah, and 3 regionals.
California would get the silver. 99 teams, 3 regionals, multiple champs (including this year's alliance captain) and chairmans. And not to mention Team 254, who has won the Silicon Valley Regional every year it's existed...
3rd place, Indiana. 45, 71, 135, 234, and 1024 should be enough evidence. But beyond them, only 1 other team has won a regional competition (and 135 surprisingly hasnt). They do have an abundance of regional chairmans though. IRI is the best off-season, and Boilermaker one of the best regionals.

Other notables:
New York, Florida, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia.

And no, Im not just being biased twoards my state (although some does exist ), Virginia. It has 55 teams (4th most of any state, 5th if you count provinces), and a combined 86 regional awards. Albeit Va. has had very limited success at the championship level. Its one regional already packs in around 60 teams a year, so it wouldn't be surprising to see a 2nd Virginia regional in the near future.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Team 254, who has won the Silicon Valley Regional every year it's existed...

I'd venture to say they have the best winning record of any team that's been around more than a few years. Losing only three regionals in 6 years, and being finalists in 2 of the 3 is pretty darn impressive.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Cory

I'd venture to say they have the best winning record of any team that's been around more than a few years. Losing only three regionals in 6 years, and being finalists in 2 of the 3 is pretty darn impressive.

Isnt it 7 years?

Still, either way is unbeleivably impressive. They would probably produce the most consistantly competative robots of any team. Either them or 71.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Isnt it 7 years?

Still, either way is unbeleivably impressive. They would probably produce the most consistantly competative robots of any team. Either them or 71.

Um yeah... it is 7 years... Senior moment?

[JulieB]

ALABAMA
for only 6 teams were doing pretty good

Website Design Award - 3
Regional Champion - 3
Engineering Inspiration Award - 2
KPC&B Entrepreunership - 2
Judge's Award - 2
Regional Chairman's Award - 1
Woodie Flowers Regional Award - 1
Xerox Creativity - 1
Regional Finalist - 1
DaimlerChrysler Team Spirit - 1
Motorola Quality - 1
Imagery - 1
Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award - 1
NAT Division Finalist - Archimedes - 1
Highest Rookie Seed - 1
GM Industrial Design - 1
J&J Sportsmanship - 1
Autodesk Award for Visualization - 1
Leadership in Controls - 1

the northern states have great sponsors to "help" built there robot

[Quatitos]

Originally Posted by JulieB

the northern states have great sponsors to "help" built there robot

I think thats a little rude to infer that the northern states have only won their awards through the work of their mentors. You have just now insulted hundreds of teams' hard work and dedication over all the years that they have been involved. In a conversation like this, if you are the underdog in a competition such as best state that you might get a little defensive and think you have done well for some disadvantages you face, but I believe that you must rethink your last remarks.

[tjciszczon]

Since FIRST isn't just about having a good robot, why should we argue about what the best state is just on robot performance. If you look, who has the best engineering schol in the country? Indiana (Purdue). Who has the best regional in the country? Indiana (Boilermaker, I know I'll get people who say it isn't but I must admit it was pretty good). Who has the best off season event? Indiana (IRI). And who has the team with every award possible 4 times over? Indiana (Team 71). So I think its obvious when you look accross the board which state is the best. Oh yeah, Andy Baker and Bill Beaty, Indiana residents. AndyMark.biz, Indiana business. Oh well, I live in Indiana so I have a bias toward it, but I do know it is one of the more competive states in FIRST. But one thing is for sure, I think you'll all agree, the Midwest is the best region of the country by far.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by tjciszczon

Since FIRST isn't just about having a good robot, why should we argue about what the best state is just on robot performance. If you look, who has the best engineering schol in the country? Indiana (Purdue).

Actually, according to USNews, who puts out rankings each year, the best engineering school that offers a BS or MS is Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, followed by Harvey Mudd

The best engineering school to offer a doctorate is MIT, followed by Stanford, and UC Berkeley.

[Quatitos]

Originally Posted by Cory

Actually, according to USNews, who puts out rankings each year, the best engineering school that offers a BS or MS is Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, followed by Harvey Mudd

The best engineering school to offer a doctorate is MIT, followed by Stanford, and UC Berkeley.

Isn't Rose Hulman in Indiana? I know one of our seniors who is going there, but I didn't talk much besides, "Is it a good school?" "yeah, its one of the best."

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Quatitos

Isn't Rose Hulman in Indiana? I know one of our seniors who is going there, but I didn't talk much besides, "Is it a good school?" "yeah, its one of the best."

Indeed it is.

[Lil' Lavery]

[quote=JulieB]ALABAMA

Originally Posted by julieB

the northern states have great sponsors to "help" built there robot

That was an unfair and untrue stereotype. Yes there are teams that maybe the mentors and sponsors play a larger role in building their robot, but there is certianly not a bigger problem in any one area of the country than another. And beyond that many dont even consider that a problem at all.
There are just as many hard working, student driven teams north of the mason dixon as south of it.