You are always imagining your life when you grow up. College is a huge part of when we grow up. Living so close to many different colleges is a huge benefit, but living so close to big universities has its downsides as well. There are so many pressures from everyone to push themselves to apply to a specific college or get into that specific university. Living in Michigan everyone expects us to be applying to the University of Michigan even if it just doesn’t suit our needs. When students discuss what colleges they are applying to, there is almost a subconscious need to apply to the University of Michigan because why wouldn’t you?
As a student of CHS, being only 20 minutes away from the University of Michigan it puts extra pressure on one of the top universities in the nation. It puts extreme pressure on students who strive to have an exquisite resume of classes. Not only on top students in the class but even classes that may have a different plan than just going to college after high school.
Hearing from a number of students that even though they may prefer to take other classes their counselors are pushing them into taking classes that may not truly benefit them. It also leads to more stress because we are being told that XYZ will lead us into getting admitted into the colleges we want to attend but there will never be a direct line to follow that will lead to admittance. We saw this with the senior class this year because even though we had students who did get accepted into Michigan there were still many students who assumed that they would be able to get into Michigan but were still denied.
That is why I feel like even though the classes someone may take it is also important for counselors to be pushing the extracurriculars someone may be doing over their 4 ap’s. In my opinion that would be a better road to take trying to get an edge over other applicants.
I also don’t feel that it is fair for this pressure to be placed on students because college is important to be able to find a road to their career path. Even if someone is applying as their reach, they may decide that they need to go there because other people didn’t have that opportunity even if it doesn’t truly fit what they want in their college experience. It also isn’t fair to have to feel this pressure because going to a specific college will not be a make-or-break part of your life. You will always have the opportunity to find a plan b or c that will truly be able to follow what you want out of your education.
It doesn’t make sense that every student is pushed into the classes that other people see fit. I think that although we have a good place to explore the workforce through consortium and dual enrollment. If students were able to take the classes that are career-focused in their regular 5 hour class then it would set them up for success since they would be able to explore different interests with no repercussions. Especially because if students had to wait for college then it could lead to them having to spend more money if they have to switch their majors since they had to wait to see if they actually find it interesting or not.
Even though I do understand the value of bringing up these desires to the students of CHS it is not as valuable if it doesn’t truly benefit the students but it benefits the school in itself because we have any number of students going to prestigious schools.
Truly I feel as if there was as much push into going into college as there was truly listening to the students’ interest. By allowing them to decide what they want out of their education we will find that there will be a better connection between the students and counselors when deciding their plan after high school. It would also benefit the students because it would allow them to explore other extracurricular activities instead of just being bogged down by their studies when it just doesn’t fit their successes.
I do value how much time that our school is putting into our secondary education but I just feel that we are not allowing our students to thrive in the positions we are being put into. Even in my experience, I have been pushed into classes that I don’t find interesting, especially with the amazing electives that we have access to. I know that we have a requirement for different credits but it is hard as a teenager to go to school dreading it because I know I have to sit through a number of classes that I just don’t find interesting.
