Questions to Ask a Graduate Program
Questions to ask faculty, admissions staff and current students when you are deciding between graduate programs. For a research degree they focus on funding, advising and completion, the things that decide whether you finish. For a taught masters or professional program they add class format, who does the teaching, and what licence the degree confers.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
How many students started in this program five years ago, and how many have finished?
Why ask it
Completion rate is the single most useful number and the one least often volunteered. A program that does not track it, or will not say, is telling you something.
How long does it actually take people here, as opposed to how long it is designed to take?
Why ask it
The published length is the minimum. The median is the real commitment, and every extra year is a year of lost earnings as well as fees.
What funding would I have, for how many years, and what happens after that?
Why ask it
Many offers cover fewer years than the degree takes. The gap year at the end is where students end up teaching full time or taking on debt to finish.
Is the funding guaranteed, or renewed annually on conditions?
Why ask it
Conditional renewal changes your position considerably, especially in a dispute with an advisor. Ask what has caused someone to lose it.
What does the funding require me to do in return, in hours per week?
Why ask it
Teaching and lab duties are often described as a stipend rather than a job. Converting it to hours tells you how much time is left for your own work.
How does advisor matching work, and how easily can it be changed?
Why ask it
The advisor relationship determines the experience more than the department's reputation does. A program with no process for switching leaves students stuck.
How many students does the person I would work with currently supervise?
Why ask it
A well-known name supervising fifteen people may give you less attention than a junior faculty member with three. Ask how often they meet each student.
Which faculty are taking new students this year, and is anyone likely to leave?
Why ask it
People apply for one professor and arrive to find them on sabbatical, retiring, or moving. This is standard to ask and rarely stated on the website.
What do students find is the hardest stage to get through here?
Why ask it
Every program has a bottleneck: qualifying exams, finding a topic, the writing year. Knowing it in advance tells you what support you will need and when.
What happens if someone fails their qualifying exams?
Why ask it
Some programs allow a retake, some award a lower degree, some end the funding. The consequence matters more than the exam format.
How is the dissertation or thesis supervised in practice, and how often would we meet?
Why ask it
Answers range from weekly meetings to almost nothing. Neither is wrong, but arriving expecting one and getting the other is a common reason people stall.
Where did last year's graduates go, by name of employer or institution?
Why ask it
Career outcomes stated as percentages hide a great deal. Specific destinations tell you whether the program places into the work you want.
How much support is there for careers outside academia?
Why ask it
In many programs this is discouraged in practice while endorsed in principle. Ask whether anyone has left for industry and how that was handled.
What does the total cost look like once fees, health cover and living costs are added?
Why ask it
A funded place can still leave a shortfall, particularly in expensive cities. Ask what students actually spend rather than what the fee schedule says.
Would I be able to spend a term elsewhere, or work with someone in another department?
Why ask it
Flexibility varies widely and is worth knowing before you commit, particularly if your interests sit between fields.
How are conference travel and research costs paid for?
Why ask it
Whether there is a departmental budget or you apply competitively each time affects how visible your work becomes over several years.
What is the process if a student has a serious problem with a supervisor?
Why ask it
A named person outside the supervisory line, rather than only the department chair, is the sign of a functional program. Vagueness here is a real risk.
How does taking a leave of absence work, for illness or a birth?
Why ask it
Worth knowing before you need it, since visa status and funding often do not pause with the enrollment. Ask whether anyone has done it recently.
Can I speak with two current students, including one further along?
Why ask it
Requesting a specific student, rather than accepting the recruiters they offer, gets you a far more accurate picture. Reluctance to arrange it tells you something.
What would make you tell an applicant this is not the right program for them?
Why ask it
A frank answer names a genuine limitation, in coverage, funding or location. Insisting the program suits everyone means you are hearing a sales pitch.
Which two or three people here could supervise my work?
Why ask it
Asking for more than one name is the point. A program where only a single person fits your interests is a program with one point of failure, and that person may be on leave, oversubscribed, or leaving. Compare the depth of this answer across your list.
How many students in the department work in my subfield?
Why ask it
A subfield with six students has a reading group, shared methods knowledge, and people to read your drafts. A subfield with one has none of that, whatever the faculty roster suggests. This is the loneliness question, asked in a way that gets a number.
How much of the program's strength in my area rests on one person?
Why ask it
Some programs are genuinely deep in a field and some are one prominent researcher with a good publication record. Both can work, but only one survives that person moving institutions, and you should know which you are choosing.
Is the department growing or shrinking?
Why ask it
Cohort sizes, teaching loads, course availability, and morale all follow this. A shrinking department may still be excellent while offering fewer courses, larger teaching assignments, and a thinner peer group than the website implies.
What happens if my interests shift after the first year?
Why ask it
Most students' interests do shift, so this is a practical question rather than a hypothetical one. Programs with breadth can absorb it; narrow programs mean a change of direction becomes a change of institution.
What does a first-year student's week actually look like here?
Why ask it
Course counts and credit hours hide the shape of the week. You want to know how many days are spoken for, and how much of the rest is teaching or lab duty rather than your own work.
Which courses are required, and how much room is left for my own interests?
Why ask it
Heavy required coursework is not a flaw, but it changes when your own project can start. Find out which year the requirements clear.
What does the qualifying or comprehensive exam involve, and how many pass first time?
Why ask it
Failure rates and retake rules vary enormously between departments, and a low first-time pass rate usually reflects unclear expectations rather than weak students.
Is this program built for people coming straight from a bachelors, or for people with several years of work behind them?
Why ask it
The answer determines who is sitting next to you and how much the classroom discussion is worth. A cohort of career changers with a decade of experience is a different product from one of recent graduates, and the same syllabus works very differently in each.
How many credits is the degree, and how long does that take full time and part time?
Why ask it
Credit counts vary widely between programs with identical names, and part time routes often stretch further than advertised because required courses run only once a year. Ask which courses are offered in which term, since that is what really sets the length.
When do classes actually meet, and how much is online?
Why ask it
Programs describe themselves as flexible while requiring two weekday afternoons on campus. Ask for a real timetable from the current term. This is the single question most likely to determine whether you can keep your job.
Who teaches the core courses: full time faculty, adjuncts, or working practitioners?
Why ask it
None of the three is automatically better, but the mix tells you what the degree is for. Practitioners bring current practice and thin availability outside class; full time faculty are reachable but may be further from the field. Ask who taught each core course last year.
How is the degree split between coursework and a thesis or capstone, and can I choose?
Why ask it
The thesis route matters if you might continue to a doctorate; the capstone route usually matters more for employment. Programs that offer both often steer students by default, so ask how many took each option last year.
Is there a required internship or placement, and does the program arrange it or do I?
Why ask it
The difference between a placement office with employer relationships and a requirement you must satisfy yourself is enormous, particularly if you are new to the city or the field. Ask how many students last year struggled to find one.
What licence, certification, or exam eligibility does this degree confer, and does it transfer between states or countries?
Why ask it
In counselling, teaching, accounting, engineering, social work, and public health, the accreditation is the whole point, and a program without the right recognition can leave a graduate unable to practise. Verify the accreditor's name yourself rather than accepting a general assurance.
Can I take one course before applying, and would it count toward the degree?
Why ask it
Many programs allow this and few advertise it. One course is the cheapest possible test of the teaching quality and the workload, and if the credit transfers you have lost nothing by trying before committing.
How do students get onto papers, and whose name goes first?
Why ask it
Authorship conventions differ by field and by lab, and informal ones are where disputes happen. A supervisor who has a clear policy has thought about their students' careers.
What equipment, data, or archive access would I have from day one?
Why ask it
Access is often shared, booked weeks ahead, or reserved for senior students. Ask who is at the back of the queue and how long they wait.
How much do students here collaborate, and how much do they work alone?
Why ask it
Some departments run as groups, others as a set of individuals who share a corridor. Neither is wrong, but the mismatch with your working style is felt every day.
What is the cost of living here on the stipend you offer?
Why ask it
Ask what current students pay in rent and how far out they live. A stipend that is competitive nationally can still be unlivable in a specific city.
What work rights do international students have during the program and afterward?
Why ask it
Visa categories, on campus hour limits, and post study work periods vary by country and change frequently. These rules can matter more to your eventual career than any difference in program quality, and they belong on the comparison sheet.
What do graduates earn, and how is that figure collected?
Why ask it
The method matters more than the number. A voluntary survey with a low response rate flatters itself, since people with good outcomes are the ones who reply. Ask what share of graduates the figure is based on.
What do students who left before finishing usually say happened?
Why ask it
Programs know this and will often answer plainly. Cost, a job change, and an unsupervised capstone are the common answers, and each one tells you a different thing about what to protect against.
Which programs do you most often lose applicants to?
Why ask it
This gives you an honest peer group, which is often not the one in the rankings, and it may add a program to your list you had not considered. Most faculty answer readily because they discuss it among themselves anyway.
What are the honest weaknesses of this program?
Why ask it
Everyone has an answer and the quality of it is diagnostic. A specific weakness, thin coverage in a subfield, a heavy teaching year, an aging building, indicates candour. A weakness framed as a strength indicates you are being sold to.
Given what I want to do afterwards, is this degree the right route, or is there a cheaper one?
Why ask it
A program willing to say a certificate, a licence exam, or two years of experience would serve you better is demonstrating something useful about its honesty. An answer that recommends the degree regardless of your goal is a sales answer.
Comparing graduate programs
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Ask the right person
Admissions staff for facts, students for reality
Funding terms, deadlines and requirements come from the office. Advising quality, workload and what happens when things go wrong only come from current students, and they will usually tell you if asked directly.
Ask a student who is nearly finished
First-year students are still enthusiastic and have not hit the hard stages. Someone in their fourth or fifth year knows what the program does badly.
Get funding in writing before you compare offers
Verbal indications of support change. Ask for the number of years, the annual amount, the duties attached and what happens if it runs out before you submit.
Ask the same questions everywhere
Comparison is only possible if the answers are about the same thing. Completion time, funded years and supervision frequency are the three worth asking of every program.
Common mistakes
Choosing on reputation rather than fit
A strong department is little help if nobody there works on what you want to study, or the one person who does is about to retire.
Asking things the handbook answers
Credit requirements and application deadlines are published. Spending a limited conversation on them wastes the access you have to someone who could tell you about advising.
Ignoring the years after funding ends
Programs commonly fund four years of a five or six year degree. That final unfunded stretch is where a lot of people leave without finishing.
Not asking about the exit
What happens if you fail an exam, need a year out, or want to leave with a master's instead. Nobody plans for it, and it decides how much risk you are taking.