Questions to Ask About a Masters 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.
The questions
Open any question for the note
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.
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.