Questions to Ask About a Master's Program
Questions to ask an admissions office, a program director, or a current student before you commit a year or two and a large sum of money to a taught master's degree.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
What are recent graduates doing now, and how do you know?
Why ask it
Ask how the figures were collected. Outcome data based on a voluntary survey with a low response rate flatters the program, because the people who found work are the ones who reply.
Who takes this degree: career changers, people already in the field, or recent graduates?
Why ask it
The mix decides what the classroom is like. If you are switching fields into a cohort of experienced practitioners, the first term will be much harder than the brochure implies.
What is the total cost including tuition, fees, and living expenses?
Why ask it
Fees, health cover, and visa costs sit outside the tuition figure, and living costs vary more than tuition does. Ask what a current student actually spends in a year.
What funding exists, and what proportion of students receive any?
Why ask it
A long list of scholarships means little without the share of the cohort that gets one and the typical size. Taught master's programs are often far less funded than doctoral ones.
Can I do this part-time, and what do part-time students miss?
Why ask it
Flexibility usually costs access: evening cohorts can be cut off from research groups, assistantships, and recruiting events held in office hours. Ask which of those apply here.
Who teaches the core modules, faculty or practitioners?
Why ask it
Practitioners bring current practice and less availability; career faculty bring the reverse. The problem is a program that advertises industry names who each appear for one guest session.
How accessible are instructors outside class?
Why ask it
Push for the mechanism: posted office hours, a teaching assistant, a response-time norm. In large master's cohorts, access is rationed whether or not anyone says so.
How big is the cohort, and how big are the seminars?
Why ask it
Programs that expanded fast often kept the seminar figures in their marketing and quietly doubled the lecture. Ask both numbers, and ask what they were three years ago.
What is the balance between coursework, a project, and a dissertation?
Why ask it
This decides whether you leave with a transcript or with a piece of work you can show an employer, and it also decides how much of the final term is unsupervised.
Can I shape the curriculum toward a specialization?
Why ask it
Ask how many electives are genuinely open, since timetable clashes and prerequisites often reduce a long option list to two or three real choices.
Are there internships, placements, or client projects, and are they guaranteed?
Why ask it
"Opportunities exist" usually means students compete for a handful. Ask what share of last year's cohort actually did one, and whether the program placed them or left them to it.
Which employers recruit here directly?
Why ask it
Named employers who run sessions on campus are a real asset. A general claim about industry links, with no names, usually means students apply through the same public channels as everyone else.
What does career support consist of, and how long does access last?
Why ask it
One resume workshop and a job board is different from a dedicated adviser. Access that ends at graduation is worth little, since master's job searches often run past it.
How current is the curriculum, and what changed in the last revision?
Why ask it
The specific change is the test. If nobody can name what was added or dropped recently, the syllabus has probably been carried forward for years.
How does the alumni network work in practice?
Why ask it
Ask whether there is a searchable directory, a mentoring scheme, or regional groups. Without a mechanism, a large alumni body is just a number.
What facilities, software, or data would I have access to as a master's student?
Why ask it
Master's students are often behind doctoral students in the queue for labs, licenses, and datasets. Ask what is reserved and what is shared.
What proportion of students finish, and how long do they take?
Why ask it
Dissertation extensions are common and expensive, since fees and visas are tied to enrolment. Ask how many of last year's cohort submitted on schedule.
Can I speak to two current students you have not chosen for me?
Why ask it
The framing is the point. Being handed a student ambassador is normal; a program that cannot let you contact anyone else is managing the message closely.
What do students complain about most?
Why ask it
Any program has a known weakness, whether it is timetabling, the dissertation term, or one required module. Hearing it named is a fair test of how candid the conversation has been.
Who should not do this degree?
Why ask it
The answer tells you what the program knows about its own limits, and it is the fastest way to find out whether your reasons for applying are the ones it serves.
What do you look for in an application, and what separates a competitive file from one that is merely admissible?
Why ask it
Admissions staff who can describe the difference will tell you whether they weigh work experience, a statement of purpose, or numbers. If the answer is only a list of minimum requirements, you have learned that almost everyone who meets the minimum gets in, which is itself worth knowing.
If I am not admitted this cycle, what would make my application stronger next time?
Why ask it
Asked before you apply, this is effectively a free review of your profile. The answer tells you what they weigh most, which is often experience or a specific prerequisite rather than grades.
What does a normal week look like in the first term, in hours of class, reading, and group work?
Why ask it
This is the question that decides whether you can keep your job, and it needs an hours figure rather than the word rigorous. Compare the staff answer with what current students say, because the gap between them is usually large.
Can I see the courses actually taught in the last two years, not just the catalogue?
Why ask it
Catalogues list courses that have not run in years. The real schedule shows which specialisms are alive, and whether the electives that attracted you are offered often enough to take.
How does the program accommodate students who are working, and does the online or evening version have the same instructors?
Why ask it
Some institutions run a parallel version taught by different staff, with different admission standards and the same diploma. Whether that bothers you is your call, but you should know which version you are being sold.
How are advisors assigned, and what happens if the match does not work?
Why ask it
Advising quality varies more than teaching quality and matters more to your experience. A department with a stated process for changing advisor is a department that has needed one.
Which faculty are taking new students, and is anyone on leave or close to retiring?
Why ask it
People choose programs for one professor who then goes on sabbatical or leaves. This is a fair question, usually answered honestly, and it can change which offer you accept.
What accreditation or licensure does this degree carry, and what does that let a graduate do?
Why ask it
In counseling, accounting, teaching, engineering, and social work, the wrong accreditation can make a degree unusable for the license you want. Get the name of the accrediting body and verify it yourself rather than accepting a general assurance.
Is this degree required for the licence or role I am aiming at, or merely useful?
Why ask it
For regulated fields the answer is a matter of fact, including which accreditation the program holds and in which jurisdiction. It is worth confirming with the licensing body rather than the admissions office.
What salary figures do you publish for graduates, and what share of graduates answered that survey?
Why ask it
A strong median from a thirty percent response rate mostly measures who felt like replying. The response rate is the number that tells you whether the salary figure means anything.
What do employers who hire your graduates tell you the program should cover better?
Why ask it
Any program in real contact with the field can answer this, usually about software, writing, or practical experience. A claim that employers have no criticism means either nobody is asking them or nobody is listening.
What do employers in this field think this degree qualifies me for?
Why ask it
Departments and employers sometimes disagree about this. Ask the program, then ask two people doing the job you want, and treat any mismatch between the answers as the important finding.
What happens if funding or an assistantship falls through in the second year?
Why ask it
Multi-year awards are often contingent on enrolment numbers, grants, or a supervisor's budget. Ask what happened to the last student in that position, because the specific case tells you far more than the policy does.
What is the policy on taking a leave of absence, and how long do credits stay valid?
Why ask it
Illness, a new baby, a job transfer, and a layoff all happen inside a two-year degree, and time limits on credits decide whether you can come back. Get the number of years in writing, since departmental practice often differs from what the catalogue says.
If someone wanted a doctorate afterwards, does this degree prepare them for that, and how many go on?
Why ask it
Coursework-only master's degrees rarely produce the research writing sample a doctoral committee wants to see. A count of students who moved on in the last three years settles it quickly.
Choosing the Right Master's Program
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you apply
Name the job the degree is for
Write down two or three roles you want to be eligible for afterwards, then check whether people in those roles hold this degree. If they mostly do not, the degree may not be the constraint.
Count the opportunity cost
A year out of work costs a year of salary and a year of experience as well as the tuition. Put that number next to the expected gain rather than leaving it out of the comparison.
Visit, or take three separate calls
A single group information session is a sales event. Separate conversations with a faculty member, a current student, and a recent graduate tell you far more.
Checking outcome claims
What to ask for
- 1The response rate behind any employment figure, not only the figure.
- 2Job titles and employers for the last two cohorts, not sector categories.
- 3How many graduates were already employed before they started.
- 4How many months after graduation the data was collected.
What to verify yourself
- 1Search the program name on a professional network and read where alumni actually work.
- 2Check whether the accrediting or licensing body listed recognizes this specific program.
- 3Ask two alumni whether the degree came up in their interviews at all.
Common mistakes
Buying the university's name rather than the program
Taught master's degrees are sometimes run at arm's length from the department that made the institution famous. Ask who teaches the core modules and where they sit.
Ignoring the final term
The dissertation or capstone term is where supervision thins out and completion problems appear. Ask how supervisors are allocated and how often students meet them.
Treating the deposit deadline as your deadline
Deposit dates are set to close decisions early. Ask whether the deadline can be extended while you wait on another offer, since it often can.