Questions to Ask During a Nursing School Interview
Questions an applicant can ask during a nursing school interview. The first group is for when you only get time for two or three. The rest are sorted by topic: clinical placements and who supervises them, classes and exams, support when things get hard, costs and jobs, and what happens after the interview.
Want questions from the whole vault instead? Try the random question generator.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Ask first
What makes this nursing program different from the others applicants compare it with?
Why ask it
Every school can claim caring faculty and a new simulation lab, so listen for something you could check: a clinical partner nobody else has, a smaller cohort, a schedule built around working adults. If the answer would fit any program in the state, the real difference is probably location and price, which is still worth knowing.
What do the students who do well in this program have in common?
Why ask it
Listen for habits more than traits: a study group formed in week one, asking for help before the first exam, cutting back paid work in the heavy semesters. It also gives you an opening to say, briefly, where that already describes you.
When do clinical placements begin, and how many clinical hours are there in total?
Why ask it
Students can be on a unit in the first semester at one school and only after a year of classroom work at another, and the total differs widely, partly because the rules differ by state. Write both numbers down at every school you interview with, since they are among the few things you can compare directly.
How did your most recent graduating class do on the NCLEX the first time they took it?
Why ask it
State boards of nursing usually publish first-time pass rates by program, so look yours up beforehand and use the question to hear the story behind the number: a dip, a jump, a new campus. Check that the figure you are given is for the program and site you would join, not an average across several.
What support exists for a student who starts falling behind?
Why ask it
The useful part is when the program notices and what happens next, not whether tutoring exists. A school that calls you in after a low first exam operates very differently from one that steps in once you have already failed the course.
What do you enjoy most about teaching in this program?
Why ask it
An interviewer who likes the job answers fast, usually with a student or a clinical day in the story. A long pause followed by praise for the building tells you something too. If you are speaking with admissions staff and not faculty, ask what they hear students say they like.
What does a week look like in the first clinical semester?
Why ask it
Ask for the hours as they fall: lectures, skills lab, clinical shifts, and the travel between them. That layout is what tells you whether working or caring for family alongside the program is realistic here.
Clinicals
Which hospitals and units do students rotate through?
Why ask it
Names are what you want: the teaching hospital, the community hospital, the nursing home. A vague answer can mean sites are still being negotiated, and a program short of clinical places can end up delaying a whole cohort.
Who decides which clinical site I am sent to, and what is the longest drive any student has this semester?
Why ask it
A site an hour away, several days a week, costs gas, parking and sleep, and is rarely reimbursed. The furthest current placement tells you more than the typical one, and it is fair to ask whether students with children or no car get any say.
Are clinical shifts days, evenings, nights or weekends, and how far ahead is the schedule posted?
Why ask it
Childcare and a part-time job depend on the notice period more than on the shifts themselves. Find out whether your days stay the same all semester or move with each rotation.
How many clinical absences are allowed, and how is a missed shift made up?
Why ask it
Some programs allow one absence per rotation and some allow none, and a make-up day can carry a fee or wait until the end of the semester. A parent, or anyone with a health condition, wants this answer before a child's fever turns into a failed course.
How many students does one clinical instructor supervise?
Why ask it
The ratio decides how much you do and how much you watch: one instructor with ten students cannot stand beside each of them for a first injection. State nursing boards often set a limit, so find out what it is here and whether groups run right at it.
Are clinical instructors faculty members or hospital staff, and do they stay with a group all semester?
Why ask it
Continuity matters because your clinical evaluation is a judgment made by one person. An instructor who has seen you across a semester is assessing a trajectory, while a rotating supervisor is assessing a single shift.
How do you use the simulation lab, and does any of that time replace hours on a real unit?
Why ask it
Simulation can stand in for some clinical hours or sit on top of them, and how much replacement is allowed depends on the state. The other thing to find out is what follows a scenario: a proper debrief with the recording, or a checklist and out the door.
Does every student get a real rotation in pediatrics, maternity and mental health, or do some of those happen in simulation?
Why ask it
Specialty units tend to take the fewest students, so part of a cohort can end up meeting pediatrics or labor and delivery mainly through simulation or observation days. If you already know the specialty you want, ask how many students got onto a real unit for it last year.
Which skills have to be checked off in the lab before I touch a patient, and what happens if I fail a check-off?
Why ask it
Skills validations, such as sterile technique or giving an injection to a mannequin, are pass or fail, and programs differ on how many attempts you get. The follow-up is how much open lab time there is to practice, and whether anyone is in the room to correct you.
What do students do with patients in their very first rotation?
Why ask it
First rotations are often in long-term care or on a general medical unit, with washing, moving and vital signs well before any medication. Hearing that in advance stops the early weeks feeling like a demotion, and the natural follow-up is which semester students begin giving medications under supervision.
How do you handle it when a student freezes or makes a mistake with a patient?
Why ask it
Push past the policy to what happened the last time. A reassuring answer has the instructor stepping in, a conversation afterwards and another go at the skill; then ask where the line sits between a learning moment and something that goes on your record.
Which electronic charting system will I learn on, and do students document in real patient records?
Why ask it
Hospitals differ on how much access they give students, and at some sites you only watch the nurse chart. A practice version of the record in the skills lab is a good sign, since documentation is a large part of the job you are training for.
Do students finish with a preceptorship alongside one nurse, and how are those matched?
Why ask it
A long final placement with a single preceptor is the closest thing to a job trial, and units sometimes hire the students they have precepted. How the spot is handed out matters as much as the spot: a lottery, faculty choice, grades, or your own legwork.
Are there options beyond the standard rotations, such as a community clinic, a school nurse placement or a study abroad trip?
Why ask it
Extras like these are where students find out how much nursing happens outside a hospital. Three things decide whether one is open to you: whether it counts toward required clinical hours, whether it costs extra, and whether places go to a handful of students picked on grades.
Classes and exams
How large is a cohort, and how many of the last one finished on time?
Why ask it
The on-time figure rolls failed courses, deferrals and placement delays into one number, which makes it more telling than anything in the admission statistics. Notice whether they know it offhand, and ask where the students who left tended to go: in the first semester, or at one particular course.
How big are lecture classes, and who teaches them?
Why ask it
Clinical groups are kept small by the hospitals, but a lecture can hold the whole cohort. Check whether the people who lecture also write the exams and run the labs, because a course split between three instructors is harder to get help in.
Do lectures and clinicals line up, so that I study a condition before I meet it on the unit?
Why ask it
In a well-timed program you cover cardiac drugs in class before your cardiac rotation. Where the two drift apart, students care for patients with conditions they have not been taught yet, and the clinical instructor has to fill the gap at the bedside.
How much of the coursework is online, and what has to be done in person?
Why ask it
Hybrid programs commonly put lectures online and keep labs, exams and clinicals on site, which changes how many days a week you commute. Where exams are proctored remotely, find out what computer, camera and software you need and who pays for them.
What has changed about the program in the last two or three years?
Why ask it
A revised curriculum, a clinical partner gained or lost, new progression rules: any of these means the students you meet on the tour went through a different program from the one you would start. What prompted the change is the interesting part.
What accreditation does the program hold, and when was it last reviewed?
Why ask it
In the US, approval by the state board of nursing and accreditation by a national nursing body are two separate things, and a program can have one without the other. Which it holds can affect transferring credit, graduate school and some employers, so ask how each applies to this program, and what the conditions were if the last review came with any.
How much of a nursing course grade comes from standardized testing versus exams your faculty write?
Why ask it
Many programs buy tests from companies such as ATI or HESI and fold the scores into course grades. Find out how many points those tests carry in each course, whether a low score means mandatory remediation work, and whether the testing package is a separate fee.
What is the passing grade in a nursing course, and are scores rounded?
Why ask it
The pass mark in nursing courses is often set higher than the rest of the college uses, and some programs make you reach it on exams alone before papers and projects count. Get the exact figure, and whether a score a fraction below it rounds up.
Is there a dosage calculation test, what score passes, and how many attempts do students get?
Why ask it
Medication math tests often carry a very high pass mark, sometimes a perfect score, and can come round again every semester. It is plain arithmetic done under pressure, so ask whether calculators are allowed and what follows a final failed attempt.
What happens if I fail a course or a clinical rotation?
Why ask it
Three details matter: whether you repeat the course the next time it runs, whether a seat is held for you or you rejoin only if space allows, and how many failures end enrollment. The gap between a summer retake and waiting a full year is a year of tuition and income.
Is there an exit exam or benchmark score required to graduate?
Why ask it
Where this exists, you need a set score on a standardized test in the final semester before the program confirms you have finished and can sit the licensure exam. Missing it can push graduation back a term, so ask how many students that happened to last year and what the retake costs.
How is NCLEX preparation built into the program, and when does it start?
Why ask it
Some programs write exam-style questions into every course from the first semester, and others add a review course in the final weeks. Find out whether the review is taught by your own faculty or bought from a test-prep company, and whether its cost is already in your fees.
Support
How easy is it to get time with faculty outside class?
Why ask it
Office hours on a syllabus and office hours in practice can be different things, especially where faculty also spend days at clinical sites. The honest test is how long a student waits for an email reply the week before an exam, so put that one to a current student.
How long have most of the nursing faculty taught here, and are any courses waiting on a new hire?
Why ask it
Long-serving faculty know the clinical sites and the spots in each course where students trip. An unfilled post tends to show up as bigger clinical groups or a course passed between part-time instructors, so ask who is covering it in the meantime.
Who is my first point of contact when something goes wrong: an adviser, a course lead or a mentor from the year above?
Why ask it
A named person beats a general promise of support. Ask how many students each adviser carries, and whether the mentor scheme is something students use or a list of names handed out at orientation.
Where do students go when the stress gets too much, and can they get an appointment around clinical shifts?
Why ask it
A campus counseling center that closes at five is little use to someone on the unit until seven. Listen for whether the program talks about stress as something it plans for, or as a sign that a student is not suited to nursing.
How do you prepare students for the first patient death and for moral distress?
Why ask it
The preparation might be a class session and a debrief after the shift, or it might be left to whichever instructor is on the unit that day. Students can meet a dying patient in their first rotation, so it is reasonable to ask whether the subject comes up in class before then.
Which professional conduct rules apply to nursing students here, from dress code to social media?
Why ask it
Nursing programs often hold students to rules other majors never meet: no photos anywhere on the unit, covered tattoos, a set number of minutes late before a clinical day counts as missed. Ask where the student handbook is posted so you can read the rules before you accept.
What do students find hardest about this program?
Why ask it
Best asked of a current student, and of more than one. When several of them name the same thing without hearing each other, such as one course, the commute to a site or the exam schedule, it is built into the program and will be waiting for you too.
How many students in a typical cohort are career changers, parents or working adults?
Why ask it
If half the cohort has children, the schedule and the attendance rules have already been tested against real life. If nearly everyone comes straight from prerequisites, you may be the first to ask for the things you need.
Is there a student nurses' association here, and what did it do last semester?
Why ask it
A working chapter runs study groups, brings in nurses from different specialties and sometimes sends students to conferences. If nobody can name a recent event, the group exists on paper, which may only mean that everyone is too busy.
Costs and jobs
What does the whole program cost beyond tuition?
Why ask it
Uniforms, a stethoscope, testing packages, immunizations, background checks, liability insurance and parking at clinical sites each look small on their own line. Ask for the program's own cost sheet with all of them added up by semester, because the first term is usually the expensive one.
Which scholarships or hospital tuition deals do nursing students here actually get, and what strings come with them?
Why ask it
Money from a hospital usually comes with a promise to work there for a set time after you qualify, and leaving early can mean paying it back. How many current students hold each award tells you whether it is a real route or a line in the brochure.
Do students here work while enrolled, and how many hours is realistic?
Why ask it
Programs tend to advise against working, and plenty of students work anyway. A current student can tell you which semesters they cut their hours and by how much, and that is the answer your budget needs.
Do local hospitals hire students as nursing assistants or externs during the program?
Why ask it
A paid student role on a unit brings in money, counts as experience and puts you in front of a manager who hires new graduates. Ask which hospitals take students, after which semester, and whether the shifts can be fitted around clinical days.
Where are last year's graduates working now, and how many had a nursing job within six months?
Why ask it
Schools that track this can name hospitals and units, not only a percentage. Check whether the figure covers the whole class or only the graduates who answered a survey, and what the career office does in the final semester: resume reviews, mock interviews, a hiring day with local employers.
Do any local hospitals run new graduate residencies, and do your students get any preference for them?
Why ask it
A residency is a structured first year in the job, with extra teaching and an assigned preceptor, and places can be competitive. Preference can mean interviews set aside for this school's graduates, or nothing beyond having done clinicals on the unit, so ask which it is.
What do recent graduates say they felt least ready for in their first nursing job?
Why ask it
If the school surveys its graduates there will be an answer, perhaps juggling a full patient load or phoning a doctor at night. The follow-up is what was changed because of it; if nobody has asked the graduates, that tells you something as well.
If I want a bachelor's or a graduate degree later, how does this program set me up for it?
Why ask it
For an associate degree, ask which universities have a signed transfer agreement for the RN to BSN step and whether you can start it before you graduate. For a BSN, ask where graduates have gone on to nurse practitioner or midwifery programs and what those programs wanted from them.
Next steps
How much does this interview count beside my grades and entrance exam score?
Why ask it
The interview may be scored as points added to a ranking, or used mainly to confirm what the numbers have already decided. Either answer is useful, and it is a fair question for the last few minutes.
Is there anything in my application you would like me to explain?
Why ask it
This gives you the chance to address a withdrawn course, an old GPA or a gap in employment while you are still in the room, instead of leaving it to be interpreted without you. Ask it near the end, then stop talking and listen.
Could I sit in on a class or a skills lab, or speak with someone who is in first semester right now?
Why ask it
Several notes on this page say to ask a student, and this is how you reach one. A first-semester student remembers exactly what surprised them, and a program that is proud of its teaching tends to say yes without checking a calendar.
If I am waitlisted, will I know where I stand, and how late can an offer come?
Why ask it
Seats open when admitted students choose another school, sometimes days before orientation. Three things to pin down: whether the list is ranked, whether you can learn your position, and whether a waitlisted applicant has to reapply for the next start date.
How long would I have to accept an offer, and how much is the deposit to hold a seat?
Why ask it
An acceptance window of a week or two is tight if you are waiting on another school. Check whether the deposit comes off your first tuition bill, and whether any of it is returned if you withdraw before classes start.
What should I do between now and the first day to be ready?
Why ask it
Useful answers are concrete: review anatomy and basic math, take the CPR course the program accepts, arrange childcare for clinical days. A shrug and 'just rest up' is kind, but press for one thing students wish they had done.
What are the next steps, and when will I hear?
Why ask it
A date stops you guessing for weeks and tells you when a follow-up email would be reasonable and not pushy. Ask too how the decision arrives, by portal, email or letter, so an offer with a short deadline does not sit unread.
Handling the interview
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the interview
Find out the format first
Nursing programs use panels, one-to-one interviews, group exercises and multiple mini interview circuits with timed stations. It is normal to email admissions and ask which one to expect, and the answer changes what you practice.
Look up the published outcomes yourself
Licensure pass rates and accreditation status are usually public. Arriving with the numbers already in hand lets you ask about the reason behind a dip instead of spending a question on a figure you could have looked up.
Prepare a short answer for why nursing
Expect to be asked. A general answer about helping people is hard to tell apart from the next candidate's, while one specific experience with a concrete detail, told in under a minute, gives the panel something to remember you by.
Bring three questions, not a list
You will usually get time for two or three at the end. Choose them in advance, starting with the Ask first group, and prefer ones the website could not have answered, so the exchange is a conversation and not a formality.
Send the rest to the right person
Cost sheets, deposits and deadlines belong to admissions staff, grading and progression rules to faculty, and how the week really feels to a current student. A question put to the wrong person gets a polite guess, so save it for the tour, the student panel or a follow-up email.
If the format is an MMI or a panel
- In a station format each station usually has its own assessor, so a bad one does not have to follow you to the next.
- For scenario stations, say your reasoning out loud. Assessors are generally scoring how you think, not whether you land on one particular answer.
- Ethical scenarios rarely have one correct resolution. Naming the competing interests before you choose tends to go better than picking a side quickly.
- Watch the time cues. Running long in a timed station means the last part of your answer goes unheard.
- In a panel, answer the person who asked but look at the others too, since all of them are forming a view.
- If a question is unclear, ask for it to be repeated instead of answering a question nobody asked.
Answers worth a follow-up
- No on-time completion figure to hand, or reluctance to give one. Ask again by email before you accept.
- Clinical sites described in general terms. Ask which facilities took students this semester.
- A licensure pass rate quoted as an average over several years, which can hide one poor recent year. Ask for the latest single year.
- 'Students get support' with no stated policy on repeating a course. Ask to see the progression policy in writing.
- A large cohort with no clear number for how many students each clinical instructor takes.
- Any pressure to accept a place or pay a deposit before you have the cost breakdown in writing.