Advisers from the Michigan College Advising Corps (MCAC) brought some of their best and brightest high school students to participate in Michigan Experience Day on the Ann Arbor campus March 25.

More than 120 students from Benton Harbor to Port Huron, Muskegon to Jackson, and points in between visited the university’s schools and colleges, heard from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, met current students and learned about the college experience.

They explored U-M student support services, networked with other Michigan high school students, and wrapped up the day by meeting with staff and faculty members of the University’s Diversity Council.

“I work with a number of academically talented students on a daily basis who would not even consider applying to the U-M because of misperceptions they have of the campus,” said Brian Harris, a U-M alumnus and college adviser at Saginaw High School MCAC. “The Michigan Experience Day was important to show my students that they can find a community here at the U-M and that it is an inclusive environment.”

New U-M graduates compete every year to join the MCAC, which sends them across the state to increase college access by building college-going cultures in underserved, low-income high schools.

The advisers do front line work in encouraging students to pursue a higher education and also to expand the range of colleges and universities to which students apply and in which they enroll.

“The involvement of the University of Michigan in outreach efforts such as the MCAC and the Michigan Experience Day is critical to improving college participation from a broader range of students, including first generation students and low-income students,” said Nick Collins, executive director of the U-M Center for Educational Outreach, which operates the MCAC program.

“Programs like this provide a tremendous opportunity for the U-M to expand the diversity of our student body.

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