Questions to Ask at a Grad School Info Session
Questions to ask at a graduate information session, whether it is a webinar, an evening on campus or a full open day. They follow the order such a session tends to take: the program itself, admissions, cost and funding, advising and careers. The last group is for the day itself: the questions to ask during a grad school open house, when there is a tour, a student panel and a professor within reach, and a few that close any session.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The program
Who is this program designed for: people heading into research, or people who want the degree for a job?
Why ask it
The answer sorts most of what follows, since a research degree is judged on advising and funding and a professional one on cost and placements. A program that says both should be able to describe how the two groups' weeks differ.
How long do people actually take to finish, and what proportion finish at all?
Why ask it
Median time to degree and completion rate say more about a program than its brochure does, and departments often hold both figures without publishing them. Reluctance to give a number is itself informative.
What does the first year look like week to week?
Why ask it
Coursework load, teaching duties, lab rotations and exam preparation all land in the same year. Hearing the schedule tells you whether this is a full-time job plus study or something more contained.
What kind of student struggles here?
Why ask it
It is easier for a director to describe a struggling student than to fault the program, so the answer tends to be frank. Listen for what the description implies: a mention of people who need a lot of structure means supervision is light.
Can the degree be done part time, in the evening or online, and is it the same degree on paper?
Why ask it
Formats often differ in more than the timetable: who teaches, what it costs and whether funding applies. Find out how many current students are in each one, because an option three people use tends to be thinly supported.
Are the required courses offered every term, or only once a year?
Why ask it
A core course that runs only in the fall can hold a part-time student up for a year if it clashes with work. Departments often plan the rotation further ahead than they post it, so the next two years may be available on request.
Do students move through the courses together as a cohort, or build their own schedule?
Why ask it
Twelve people who share every class get a different degree from two hundred choosing out of a catalog. A cohort hands you a network and a fixed timetable, which matters if you are fitting classes around work.
Which core courses are taught by full-time faculty, and which by people working in the field?
Why ask it
Neither is better by default. Practitioners bring current practice and contacts, while full-time faculty are easier to find outside class and to ask for a letter, so what you want is the mix in the courses everyone must take.
Does the degree end in a thesis, a capstone project or an exam, and who decides which?
Why ask it
A thesis helps if a doctorate might follow, and a project done for a real client is easier to show an employer. The final piece is also where a two-year degree quietly becomes three, so ask how long it usually takes.
What are the qualifying or comprehensive exams, and how many people do not pass?
Why ask it
Some programs use these exams to thin the cohort, and others treat them as a checkpoint nearly everyone clears. The retake rule shows which kind this is: a second attempt with feedback is a different thing from one sitting and out.
What has changed in the curriculum in the last two years, and what is about to change?
Why ask it
Printed materials lag behind the department. A new track, a dropped requirement or a course that lost its only instructor will shape your class more than it shaped the students on today's panel.
Admissions
How many people apply, how many are offered a place, and how many start each year?
Why ask it
The three numbers together show your odds more plainly than a word like selective does. A program that makes many more offers than it fills seats is competing for its students, which is worth knowing before you compare funding offers.
Which parts of the application matter most, and what makes one stand out here?
Why ask it
Committees weigh the statement of purpose, fit with faculty, letters and grades differently, and the person presenting has often sat on one. Whatever they name is where your remaining weeks before the deadline should go.
Are test scores required, and if they are optional, do they still carry weight?
Why ask it
Optional can mean ignored, or it can mean a good score still lifts an application that is thin elsewhere. Policies have shifted at a lot of schools, so take this year's answer from the session and not from an old forum thread.
How much work experience do admitted students usually have, and can it offset an older or weaker transcript?
Why ask it
Programs aimed at working professionals often read a strong record on the job as evidence that grades from years ago no longer describe you. Research programs tend to care about research experience more than years employed, so check which kind counts here.
If my first degree is in another field, which courses would I need before I start?
Why ask it
Some programs admit you on condition that you make up the missing courses, which can add a term and its tuition. Get the list by course name so you can see whether a class at a local college would satisfy it.
Can credits from a graduate certificate or another program count toward this degree?
Why ask it
Each school sets its own limit on transfer credit, and may refuse courses taken too long ago. Bring a syllabus if you can, because the decision is usually made one course at a time.
Who should write my recommendation letters if I finished college years ago?
Why ask it
People who have been working for a while often cannot reach a professor who remembers them. A supervisor is usually acceptable, but some committees still want one academic letter, and that is better learned months before the deadline.
Should I contact faculty before applying, and how do they prefer to hear from you?
Why ask it
In lab-based fields an email to a possible supervisor is often expected, and in others it goes unread or is discouraged. The presenter can usually say which applies here and what a first message should contain.
Is there a separate, earlier deadline for fellowships or assistantships?
Why ask it
The application date is on the website, and the funding dates often are not. Some awards consider everyone who applies by a priority date and others want a form of their own, so write down which is which.
Are applications read as they arrive, or all together after the deadline?
Why ask it
Under rolling review, seats and scholarship money can run down well before the posted date. Where that is the practice, the real deadline is earlier than the printed one.
Can I start in the spring, or defer an offer for a year?
Why ask it
Programs whose courses run in sequence from the fall may admit only once a year. Deferral is the school's own rule, and a scholarship attached to the first offer does not always travel with it, so check both halves.
Is there an application fee waiver for people who attend this session?
Why ask it
Some programs send a waiver code to registered attendees and mention it only when asked. It is also fair to check whether attendance is recorded, because schools differ on whether showing interest counts for anything.
What is different for international applicants: language scores, transcript evaluation, funding?
Why ask it
The presenter may know only the outline, so the useful answer is often a name in the international office. Visa and work rules depend on the country and change from year to year, so ask how it currently works there and do not rely on a slide.
Cost and funding
Is funding guaranteed, for how many years, and what does the package include?
Why ask it
Stipend, tuition remission and health insurance are three separate things, and a program can offer one without the others. Press for the number of years too: "five years, subject to good standing" is an answer, and "most students are funded" is not.
What is the stipend, and what does rent cost near campus?
Why ask it
A stipend only means something against local housing costs, so the two numbers belong in one question. Students answer the second half better than staff do, including whether they share an apartment or work a second job to cover it.
What work is attached to the funding, and how many hours a week does it take?
Why ask it
A teaching or research assistantship is a job that can take up to half a working week, and the stated hours are sometimes optimistic. A description helps more than a number: sections taught, papers graded, labs run.
What happens to funding if I take longer than the expected time?
Why ask it
Research degrees often run past the advertised length, and year six is the one nobody mentions at an information session. Extensions, where they exist, may pay less or carry more teaching, so get the terms.
What does the whole degree cost, living expenses included, and what do recent graduates earn to start?
Why ask it
For a degree you pay for yourself this is the comparison to make first, and only you can judge whether the gap is worth it. A median for the last graduating class is more honest than a range, which tends to be remembered by its top end.
Which fees are charged on top of tuition, and does any funding cover them?
Why ask it
Technology, activity, lab and health fees are often billed separately and can survive a tuition waiver. One term's actual bill for a current student settles the matter faster than a fee schedule.
How many master's students hold an assistantship or scholarship, and how are those handed out?
Why ask it
In plenty of departments the funded positions go to doctoral students first and master's students get what is left. Whether awards are decided at admission or applied for each term tells you when to put your hand up.
Do most students keep a job while enrolled, and do their employers help pay?
Why ask it
Tuition assistance depends entirely on the employer, and how it is taxed depends on where you live, so treat this as a prompt to ask your own HR department. From the program, you want to hear that classes are scheduled around a working day.
Is tuition the same for residents, non-residents and online students?
Why ask it
Public universities commonly charge by residency, and online sections sometimes carry their own rate. Qualifying as a resident works differently in each state and country, so ask how it is decided here and by whom.
Advising and research
How does advisor matching work, and can I change advisors?
Why ask it
Being admitted to one lab, being admitted to the department at large, and rotating through several labs in the first year each carry a different level of risk. Where a match fails and there is no route to another advisor, the student is the one who absorbs it.
Which faculty are taking new students this year, and is anyone leaving or retiring?
Why ask it
Applicants sometimes build a whole statement around a professor who is about to move, retire or run out of grant money. It is a fair thing to raise in public, and departments usually answer it plainly.
How many students does a typical faculty member supervise?
Why ask it
A well-known professor with fifteen students may be harder to see than a junior one with three. The follow-up that makes the number useful is whether meetings sit on a fixed schedule or happen when the student chases one.
In a coursework degree, who advises me, and how often would we meet?
Why ask it
The advisor on a taught master's may be a staff member who signs off your course plan once a term. That is fine if you know it going in, and a letdown if you were expecting a mentor.
Can master's students join a faculty research project, and how do they get onto one?
Why ask it
This matters most if a doctorate is on your mind and you will need research on your record and a letter from whoever supervised it. Listen for a process, such as a posted list of openings, and be wary of plain encouragement to knock on doors.
Which labs, data, field sites or software do students get to work with?
Why ask it
Facilities shown on a slide are not always open to students below the doctoral level. The telling detail is what someone in your track used last term, and whether access had to be booked, paid for or earned.
When something is going wrong, who can a student go to besides their own advisor?
Why ask it
A director of graduate studies, an ombudsperson or a student representative should come up by title. A long pause suggests that problems are expected to stay inside the lab where they started.
Careers
What do graduates from the last three cohorts do now?
Why ask it
Recent, specific placements are the honest measure of outcomes. Aggregate employment statistics and a list of famous alumni from twenty years ago tell you almost nothing about your prospects.
How does the program support people going into non-academic work?
Why ask it
Plenty of doctoral graduates end up working outside universities, and departments differ in whether they plan for that or treat it as a disappointment. Whether students may take a summer internship, and whether advisors approve of one, is the practical test.
Which employers hire from this program, and do they recruit on campus?
Why ask it
Named firms and agencies can be checked, and you can look up whether they post jobs you would want. If hiring runs through a department job board or one professor's phone, find out how a new student gets onto that list.
Is an internship, co-op or practicum built into the degree, and who finds the placement?
Why ask it
A required placement you must arrange yourself is hidden workload, especially if you are new to the city. Two details to pin down: whether placements are paid, and whether one can be done at your current employer.
How many of last year's graduates had a job in the field by the time they finished?
Why ask it
Find out how the figure is collected, because a survey answered by a third of the class describes the people who were pleased to reply. The words "in the field" are the part of the question doing the work.
Is the program accredited by the body that counts in this field, and does the degree shorten the path to a license?
Why ask it
In fields such as engineering, construction management, counseling and nursing, accreditation can decide whether a degree counts toward a license or certification. Those rules belong to the licensing body and vary by state and country, so confirm with it directly.
Do master's graduates go on to doctoral programs, and where have they been admitted?
Why ask it
For anyone who might want a doctorate later, this is the placement record that counts. Departments that send people on can usually name the programs, and those that cannot may see the master's purely as a final degree.
Is there a recent graduate I could talk to about how the degree has worked out?
Why ask it
Alumni have nothing to lose by being frank, and they have tested the degree on the job market. What they can tell you that nobody on campus can is how employers reacted to the degree.
Open house and after
What do you wish you had known before your first term here?
Why ask it
Second-years answer this with the practical things: which course to take early, which office is slow, what the first month really cost. If the panel's answers sound rehearsed, try it again on one student during the tour.
Can I speak to current students without faculty present?
Why ask it
Students on an official panel were picked for the job and are speaking in front of their own faculty. One email address and a short call later will get you a franker account of the same program.
May I sit in on a class today, or come back for one?
Why ask it
Twenty minutes in a real seminar shows the level of the discussion, how many people speak, and whether the room has done the reading. Choose a required course over a showcase elective.
Can we see the rooms students actually work in, not only the newest building?
Why ask it
Tours favor atriums. The shared office, the computer lab at nine in the evening or the bench a first-year would be given is where the degree happens, and a guide who is a student can usually take you there.
Is there time today to talk with a professor in my area one to one?
Why ask it
Open houses often leave faculty standing at tables with nobody asking them anything. Five minutes on their current work, and on whether they have room for a student, gives you something true to write in your statement.
Where do graduate students live, and how do they get to campus?
Why ask it
Put this one to the student panel and not to staff. The commute, the price of parking and whether anyone manages without a car are details the official housing page rarely settles.
Will the slides or a recording of this session be sent out?
Why ask it
If yes, you can stop copying down dates and listen for what is said aloud and never reaches a slide. If no, photograph the funding and deadline slides before they disappear.
Who is the right person to email with questions about my own situation?
Why ask it
A transcript from abroad, a gap in your record or a disability accommodation does not belong in a public Q&A. Leave with a name instead of a general inbox, and mention the session in your first line so the message gets placed.
Is there another event before the deadline, such as a department visit or an admitted students day?
Why ask it
A general open house is run for everyone, and the later, smaller events are where you meet the people you would work with. Knowing they exist lets you hold your detailed questions for the right room.
What should I have asked today that nobody did?
Why ask it
People who run these sessions year after year know which topics applicants skip and later regret. It also makes a graceful last question, because it hands the speaker the floor.
Getting Real Information From an Info Session
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the Session
Read the program pages first, then bring what they do not say
Curriculum, deadlines and general requirements are published. Funding conditions, time to degree, completion rates and advisor matching usually are not, and those are the questions worth your one turn to speak.
Look up two or three faculty and what they published recently
Naming actual work lets you ask whether that line of research is continuing and whether the person is taking students. It also distinguishes you in a session where most questions are about deadlines.
Decide whether you are evaluating or being evaluated
Large webinars are recruitment and nobody is judging your question. Small open days and lab visits can double as informal assessment, so pick questions that show you have read something.
Webinar, Open House or Program Session
On a webinar, post the question early and keep it to one line
Not every informational session hands you a microphone. Online, questions go into a chat or Q&A box and a moderator picks from them, usually favoring the ones that apply to the whole audience. Post yours while the relevant slide is up, and start with the groups on the program and admissions, which a presenter can answer from the front.
At a campus open house, spend the time on people
The talk at a grad school open house mostly repeats the website. What you cannot get from home is the tour, the student panel and the faculty standing by their tables, so start with the last group on this page. Take cost and housing to students, and advising to the professors themselves.
At a session for one professional master's
A graduate information session for an applied degree, construction management or engineering management for example, is often led by the program director and attended by people who already work. Stipends and advisor matching rarely apply. Lead with the class schedule, who teaches the core courses, accreditation, internships and which employers hire, and find out what share of the class studies while employed.
If you get one question in front of the room
Choose one whose answer helps everyone listening and is not on the website: how long people really take to finish, or where last year's class is working now. Anything about your own transcript or circumstances goes in an email afterwards.
Numbers Worth Writing Down
- Applications received, offers made and students enrolled, for the most recent year.
- Stipend amount, guaranteed years, and whether tuition and health insurance are included.
- Median time to degree and the completion rate for recent cohorts.
- Hours per week attached to teaching or research funding.
- Placements of the last three graduating cohorts, by name of role rather than category.
- Funding and fellowship deadlines, which are often earlier than the application deadline.
Common Pitfalls
Asking questions the website answers
Course lists, application components and deadlines are published, and spending your question on them signals you did not look. Save the slot for funding conditions and outcomes.
Treating the stipend as the whole funding question
The number of guaranteed years, what happens afterwards, and whether fees and insurance are covered often matter more than the headline figure. Ask about all four.
Only speaking to faculty and admissions staff
The people who know what the program is like are the students two and four years in. Ask for one contact and follow up by email the same week, while the session is a legitimate reason to write.
Not asking about attrition
Programs rarely volunteer how many people leave, yet the figure says a good deal about whether students are supported. Ask directly and note how comfortable the answer is.
Confusing enthusiasm for fit
A polished session and warm faculty are not evidence that the program does the work you want. Check that at least two people there study something close to your interest and are currently supervising.