Dearborn Students Address Growing Pressures of Preparing for College

Instead of soaking up air conditioning or going to a local pool, a group of students braved the heat at Thursday afternoon to talk about the last thing on most high school students’ minds in July: how to get into college.

The Fordson student group Students Taking Action Today hosted its first picnic to educate incoming juniors on the importance of good grades, standardized test preparation and university admissions. STAT brought in Fordson alumni from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor’s Doors of Opportunity organization to share their higher-education know-how.

Thursday’s barbecue–and the attending students’ interest in preparing for college–is emblematic of the greater emphasis on higher education. That sense of importance initially fostered standardized test prep courses, then more Advanced Placement classes and, finally, student-led initiatives such as STAT.

Fordson junior Imad Mourad, who cofounded STAT in March, said there is more pressure than ever for high school students to start thinking about college.

“It doesn’t begin junior year,” Mourad said. “It can start in the eighth grade.”

Mourad and fellow Fordson junior Husain Bazzi founded STAT to create a sense of urgency in students, Mourad said. On Thursday, they brought in recent Fordson graduates who currently attend UM-Ann Arbor to speak about the admissions process and the effort involved in getting into college.

The bar for high school students is continually rising on both standardized tests and in-school performance, said Hassan Hamid, a 2009 Fordson graduate and current engineering student at UM-Ann Arbor.

“In my class, we had a lot of people doing good,” Hamid said. “And that puts pressure on the next classes to top us… They need to match what was done before or do better.”

This constant improvement is imperative, as more and more high school students are competing for college enrollment, Hamid said. At UM-Ann Arbor, for example, the number of applicants grew from around 26,800 in fall 2006 to more than 39,500 for fall 2011 enrollment, according to university statistics.

Newly released numbers from the Department of Education, meanwhile, show more Michigan high school students are meeting the state’s “college-ready” benchmarks than ever before, according to a press release. The percentage of students across the state reaching those standards increased from 16 percent to 17 percent last year–a change representing around 1,100 additional pupils.  

In addition to just making the cut, however, an increasing number of students are challenging themselves both with AP classes and standardized test preparation, Hamid said. Instilling this competitive work ethic early will pay dividends down the road.

“When they’re in high school and they realize, ‘Oh, we can’t beat these guys,’ then when they get to college they won’t be able to do it there either,” Hamid said. “It’s very important that they get past this pressure.” 

Students like Fordson junior Sabrina Jadallah feel they can’t even take summers off. Jadallah, who is interested in forensic science, said the long road to college is hectic for everyone.

“I feel like each year it gets harder and harder,” Jadallah said. “And sometimes I get confused whether it would be better to go for the AP classes or do dual enrollment. All the teachers are telling you things just to prepare you.

“It gets stressful," she added, "because you want to do your best and be the top of your class."

Jadallah and other juniors, like Fordson student Zainab Hachem, have to begin specializing earlier to appear marketable to colleges. Hachem said she’s taking a heavy science course load to hone her skills for a premed undergraduate degree.

“I’ve been thinking about college since fifth grade,” Hachem said.

The combined weight of heavy coursework, extracurricular activities and standardized test preparation is a huge burden for students to carry on their shoulders, Mourad said.

The STAT group is one of the first student organizations proactively addressing the pressures of college admission. But it’s an area of interest that’s sure to grow as higher education becomes more important–and admissions more competitive.

“We’re trying to foster an initiative to reignite the flame,” Mourad said. “We felt that we have so much potential. For that potential to die down is detrimental for all of us.

“A lot of times they say the youth is the future,” Mourad added. “But I also believe that the youth is the present."