DEARBORN – A recent trend has started to emerge in the Arab American community. One that is usually associated more with Western civilization.

Moving out-of-state for graduate school.

It is typical in mainstream culture, but not in the Arab culture.

More and more students are moving out of their homes, to different states, in order to pursue their graduate studies.

Pharmacy, law and medical school have become the top choice for most Arab Americans after they complete their undergraduate studies. 

With so many students heading into the similar career fields, getting into a graduate program has become extremely competitive. This results in more students applying to colleges outside of Michigan.

Pharmacy school student Faten Sabbagh is just one of the many who has moved away for graduate school. She attends the South College School of Pharmacy in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Sabbagh decided not to limit herself and chose to apply to out-of-state colleges. 

“I applied to both in-state and out-of-state colleges to give myself more options, since there are only few schools to apply to in-state,” she said. “I was given many opportunities, but ended up choosing the program that required me to move out of state because it offered more than the other programs did.”

Arab Americans have become more open to the idea of leaving the state. Parents are beginning to see how important earning a degree is for their children. 

That same emphasis on education runs in Sabbagh’s family. 

“I am very fortunate to have a family that supports me with every decision I make,” she said. “They were on board through all of it, which made the entire process a lot easier. Receiving an education is extremely important to my family, so the goal was to do whatever it takes to do exactly that.” 

Not only does moving out of state for graduate school give students more opportunities, it allows them to get into a good school and graduate in a timely fashion. 

Essam Abdallah is a second-year law student at The John Marshall Law School. He knew when he began the application process that he wanted to venture out of state.

“Every law school that I applied to was out-of-state,” he said. “I got accepted to a number of schools. On the top of my list was New York Law School, but I ultimately settled on Chicago, because it was close enough to home.”

Abdallah was thinking about his career after graduation, along with his education when choosing to move to Chicago. 

“Moving out of state for graduate school wasn’t an option but rather a necessity,” he said. “After investing so much time and money into my JD degree, I didn’t want to be in a risky situation in which securing a position in a law firm is difficult.”

Dearborn being the close-knit Arab community that it is, Abdallah’s parents wanted him to stay in the area for law school. He didn’t seem to worry as much.

“I explained to my parents numerous times that Arab Americans are everywhere in the United States and that I was sure to find a piece of home wherever I went,” he said.

This trend of attending out-of-state colleges is just beginning to grow in the Arab American community. It is something that will become very common as education continues to become more important to the community.