Good Questions to Ask College Interviewers
Questions for the last ten minutes of a college interview, when the interviewer turns it over to you. Most interviewers are alumni volunteers rather than admissions staff, so these lean on what they experienced, what they got wrong about the place, and what happens to your interview report afterwards.
The questions
Open any question for the note
When did you graduate, and what did you study?
Why ask it
Establishes how current their picture is before you rely on anything else they say. Someone twenty years out is excellent on what the place is like at its core and unreliable on housing, advising or a specific department today.
What made you keep volunteering for this?
Why ask it
Nobody is paid for alumni interviews, so the reason is usually genuine and specific. It also relaxes the conversation, which matters if the earlier part felt like an examination.
What is the thing from your four years you still use?
Why ask it
Asking what survived twenty years is far more revealing than asking what they enjoyed. Answers about a way of writing, arguing or thinking say something real about the teaching; answers only about friends say something too.
What did you expect before you arrived that turned out to be wrong?
Why ask it
Every alum has one of these and it is usually the most useful sentence in the interview. Common ones concern how competitive it was, how much the location shapes daily life, or how little the prestige mattered once inside.
Was there a class or a professor that changed what you wanted to do?
Why ask it
Gets a specific story rather than a description of academics, and it lets you follow up on whether that department is still strong. If they cannot name anyone, that is worth quietly noting.
How did you find your people there?
Why ask it
The mechanism matters more than the answer. If social life ran entirely through one channel, whether that is fraternities, sport or a single dormitory, that tells you how easy it is to belong if that channel is not yours.
What would you do differently if you went back?
Why ask it
Invites regret, which is where the honest material is. Frequent answers involve taking fewer safe courses, using office hours, or leaving campus more, and each one is advice you could actually act on.
What do you hear from current students that sounds different from your time?
Why ask it
A polite way to get at recent change without asking them to speculate. Interviewers usually stay connected enough to know what has shifted, and shifts are what a website will not tell you.
What do you think the place is genuinely good at?
Why ask it
The word genuinely gives permission to narrow it down rather than list everything. A specific answer, even a modest one, is more credible than a claim of all-round excellence and gives you something to verify.
What kind of student is happy there, and what kind is not?
Why ask it
The second half is the part that helps you decide. Answers about students who need a city, students who wanted small classes, or students who arrived without a plan are all descriptions you can test against yourself.
What surprised you about how hard it was?
Why ask it
Signals you are thinking realistically, and most interviewers will answer honestly because it is safe to admit in retrospect. Look for whether the difficulty was workload, competition, or being ordinary among strong peers.
What did you do during a term when it was not going well?
Why ask it
Better than asking about support services, because it surfaces what students actually did rather than what exists on paper. If the answer is that they told nobody, that is also information about the culture.
Where did people from your class end up?
Why ask it
A wide spread suggests the degree travels; a narrow funnel into two industries suggests strong recruiting pipelines and less help outside them. Either can suit you, but you should know which you are joining.
Has the alumni network mattered to you in practice?
Why ask it
Every school claims a strong network. What you want is one concrete instance, or an honest admission that it has not come up, which is a more useful answer than a general endorsement.
What do you wish applicants asked you?
Why ask it
Interviewers hear the same five questions all season and often have something they would rather discuss. This is the single most efficient question here, because it hands them the interesting part of their own experience.
Is there anything in my application you would like me to explain?
Why ask it
Ask near the end. It gives you a chance to address a low grade, an odd gap or a change of school, in your own words, in a report that a reader will see. Some interviewers do not have your file, and their answer tells you that too.
What happens to your notes after this?
Why ask it
Most interviewers write a short report that becomes one part of the file. Knowing whether they submit a rating, a narrative, or both helps you understand what the conversation actually counted for.
How much does the interview count?
Why ask it
Interviewers are usually candid about this and the honest answer is often 'not much, unless it goes badly.' Hearing it directly is worth more than the speculation you will otherwise read online.
When would I hear anything, and from whom?
Why ask it
Confirms the decision timeline from someone with no incentive to be vague, and clarifies that they will not know the outcome before you do. It also prevents you emailing them in March asking for news they do not have.
Would it be all right to follow up if I think of something?
Why ask it
Ends with an open door rather than a handshake. Most alumni interviewers are glad to answer a question later, and one short email afterwards is more useful to you than any additional question you could squeeze in now.
The last ten minutes of a college interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who is likely sitting across from you
An alumni volunteer
The most common case. Unpaid, often decades removed, usually without access to your full application, and writing a short report afterwards. Ask about their experience and what has changed; do not ask them to interpret admissions policy.
An admissions officer
Less common and more consequential, since they may be the person who reads your file. Process questions are appropriate here, and so is asking what they would like you to clarify.
A current student
Best source on housing, dining, advising and how people actually spend a Saturday. Not a source on aid or admission criteria, and it is unfair to press them on either.
Faculty, for a specific programme
Usually for conservatories, direct-entry programmes or scholarship finals. Ask about the work, the sequence of courses, and what students in this programme go on to do.
Preparing your side of it
- Bring four or five questions and expect to use two or three. Interviews run over and the good ones turn into conversation.
- Write questions that only this person could answer. Anything you could look up in ninety seconds spends your goodwill for nothing.
- Read your own application again beforehand. If they have it, they will ask about something in it, and you should not be caught out by a sentence you wrote in October.
- Have one specific thing you are curious about at this school: a course, a lab, a publication, a programme. Specificity is the whole difference between interest and flattery.
- Plan the boring logistics: the address or the video link, the time zone, a charged device, a quiet room, and arriving fifteen minutes early.
Asking well in the moment
- Ask one question at a time and let them finish. Interviewers report on whether you listen as much as on what you ask.
- Follow up on their answer before moving to your next question. One real follow-up is worth three prepared questions.
- Take a small notebook and write down names of courses or people they mention. It looks attentive and it is genuinely useful afterwards.
- If an answer is vague, ask for an example rather than repeating the question. It is polite and it usually works.
- If you are running short on time, ask the one about what they wish applicants asked. It gets the most per minute.
Common pitfalls
- Asking about acceptance rates, rankings or your own chances. An alumni interviewer cannot answer any of it.
- Asking about financial aid figures. That belongs with the financial aid office, and an interviewer will only be able to guess.
- Saying you have no questions. It is read as indifference more reliably than anything else in the interview.
- Reading questions off a phone without looking up.
- Speaking negatively about another school, or about your own teachers. It is remembered and it goes in the report.
- Treating it as an interrogation to survive. Interviewers are usually volunteers who like the place and want the conversation to go well.
- Bringing a parent into the room. Meet them beforehand if they drove you, then let the interview be yours.
Afterwards
- Email a short thank-you within a day or two, referring to one specific thing you discussed. Two or three sentences is right.
- Write down what you learned while it is fresh, especially anything that made the school more or less attractive. You will be comparing four of these in April.
- Follow up on whatever they suggested you look into. If they named a course or a programme, read about it, and mention it if you write again.
- Do not ask them about your decision later. They will not know, and being asked puts them in an awkward position.