Good Questions to Ask in a College Interview
The research set. Use these when you want the interview to tell you something a campus tour and a prospectus cannot: how class access really works, who does the teaching, what advising amounts to, and what happens when a student falls behind. For the interviewer's own student years, see What Questions to Ask in a College Interview. For closing the conversation and asking about your own application, see Questions to Ask on a College Interview.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What made you want to interview students for the school?
Why ask it
An easy opener that also tells you who you are talking to. Alumni volunteers answer this warmly and it usually leads straight into their own experience, which is the material you actually want from them.
How hard is it to get into the classes a major actually requires?
Why ask it
The gap between a course catalogue and a timetable is where four-year plans fail. Ask whether people get shut out of required classes and what they do when it happens.
How much of the teaching is done by professors rather than graduate students?
Why ask it
Varies enormously by school and by year, and it is rarely stated plainly anywhere. Ask specifically about the first two years, since that is where the substitution usually sits.
What kind of student does well here, and who has a hard time?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful half and rarely comes up on a tour. Answers often describe pace, independence, or how much you have to chase things down yourself, which you can honestly compare against how you work.
How do first-year students actually find their group of people?
Why ask it
Ask for the mechanism, not the reassurance: a residential system, a first-year seminar, a club fair, a sports team. Schools where friendship depends entirely on one structure feel very different from ones with several routes in.
How big are classes in the first year compared with later on?
Why ask it
Averages published by any school hide the shape. What you want is whether intro courses run at two hundred with graduate-led sections, and at what point that changes.
How easy is it to change majors or add a second one?
Why ask it
Most students change their mind at least once, so the friction matters. Ask whether some majors are capped or require an internal application, because that is the detail that traps people in their second year.
How do undergraduates get involved in research or work closely with faculty?
Why ask it
Ask whether it happens through a formal programme, a funded summer scheme, or by emailing professors directly. The answer tells you how much initiative is expected and how early it is realistic to start.
What is advising like day to day: one assigned adviser, or several people?
Why ask it
Weak advising is one of the most common regrets students report, and it is invisible from the outside. Ask how often you meet, and who catches it when a student quietly stops going to class.
What is there to do on a Tuesday night, and on a Saturday?
Why ask it
Two concrete evenings tell you more about campus life than any description of student culture. It also surfaces how much the social side depends on drinking, or on leaving campus entirely.
What support exists for someone who is genuinely struggling in a course?
Why ask it
Ask whether tutoring is free, drop-in or scheduled, and whether asking for it is normal or slightly shameful. The tone of the answer is as informative as the content.
What is the wait like for counselling or mental health support?
Why ask it
A fair, direct question that most schools answer honestly if asked plainly. Ask about the wait for an ongoing appointment rather than an initial one, since that is where the gap usually is.
How competitive does it feel between students?
Why ask it
Grading curves, capped majors and pre-professional tracks change the atmosphere in ways a brochure will never describe. Ask for an example rather than a yes or no.
What do students here complain about most?
Why ask it
Nearly every interviewer will answer this, and the complaint is usually specific: housing lotteries, registration for popular courses, parking, food. You learn what daily annoyance you would be signing up for.
How do students find internships and summer work, and how much does the school help?
Why ask it
Ask what the career office actually does rather than whether it exists. Listen for named programmes, funding for unpaid internships, and whether alumni respond when students reach out.
Who should I be talking to about financial aid, and when in the process?
Why ask it
An alumni interviewer cannot discuss your aid, and asking them puts you both in an awkward spot. Asking who to contact and when gets you the right office and a deadline, which is what you actually need.
What has the school added or fixed in the last few years?
Why ask it
Tests whether the place responds to its own students. Concrete answers name a building, a policy or a service; a vague one suggests complaints go in and nothing comes out.
What does the school do for students who need to work during term?
Why ask it
Term-time work shapes everything from class choice to whether you can take an unpaid summer position. Ask about on-campus jobs, hours caps and whether advisers plan around them.
What does the school spend money on that students actually notice?
Why ask it
Budgets show priorities more honestly than a mission statement. Listen for whether the answer is teaching and support or facilities that photograph well.
Where do students live after the first year, and how is that decided?
Why ask it
Housing drives who you end up spending your time with and how much the year costs. Lotteries, off-campus rents and guaranteed years vary far more than applicants expect.
Using these in a college interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Match the question to who is interviewing you
An alumni volunteer
They can tell you what the place felt like, which professors mattered, and what they regret. They cannot tell you your admission odds, discuss aid, or explain current policy. Ask about experience, not process.
An admissions officer
They can speak to how applications are read, what the school is building, timelines and next steps. Ask about the institution and the process, and save the nostalgia questions.
A current student
The best person to ask about registration, housing, advising, and what Tuesday night is like. Students answer the complaint question more usefully than anyone else in the building.
Pick four and keep two spare
You will usually get five to ten minutes. Choose one about academics, one about daily life, one that invites honesty, and one that closes the meeting. Keep spares in case they answer one earlier.
How to ask so you get a real answer
- Ask for one example rather than an overview. Which class, which evening, which complaint.
- Do not ask anything on the admissions page. It reads as though you did not prepare, and it uses time you cannot get back.
- Ask your questions where they fit in the conversation, not as a list at the end. A follow-up to something they just said always lands better.
- Take a note or two, briefly. It signals that the answer mattered and gives you something specific for the thank-you note.
- If an answer is evasive, let it go. This is a conversation with a volunteer, not a cross-examination.
Questions to hold back, and what to ask instead
- Do not ask about your chances of getting in. Ask instead what the next steps are and when decisions go out.
- Do not ask an alumni interviewer about scholarships or aid amounts. Ask who in the financial aid office to contact and by when.
- Do not ask for rankings, graduation rates or placement statistics. Those are published, and asking spends your time on something you could have looked up.
- Do not ask them to compare the school with another one by name. Ask what kind of student does well here instead, which gets at the same thing without the awkwardness.
- Do not ask what they thought of you. Ask whether there is anything in your application they would like you to explain.