Questions to Ask Faculty

The questions

Open any question to see why it works.

1. 1

   What are you working on right now?

   Faculty answer this readily and it tells you whether their current work resembles the research described on the department page, which is often years out of date. It also gives you something specific to follow up on later.

2. 2

   What do you teach, and which of those courses do you most enjoy?

   The gap between assigned teaching and preferred teaching is where enthusiasm lives. A professor teaching a required survey course they dislike is a different classroom experience from one teaching their own subject.

3. 3

   Who actually teaches the courses at this level?

   Courses listed under a professor's name are sometimes delivered by graduate students, adjuncts, or postdocs, with the named faculty member appearing occasionally. Ask specifically about first and second year classes, where this is most common.

4. 4

   How big are your classes, and how much of the grade is written work someone reads closely?

   Class size determines whether you are known or counted. The second half matters more: a large class with real written feedback is better preparation than a small one assessed entirely by multiple choice.

5. 5

   What separates students who do well here from students who struggle?

   Faculty have watched hundreds of students and their answer is usually concrete: they ask for help early, they read before class, they choose a topic and stay with it. Weak answers about motivation mean they have not thought about it.

6. 6

   How do students get involved in research, and at what stage?

   Ask when it starts, how selection works, and whether it is paid or for credit. Some departments open labs to second years, others restrict everything to graduate students, and no prospectus states this plainly.

7. 7

   What have students who worked with you gone on to do?

   Specific names and destinations mean they follow their students. A general answer about many going on to good things means either they do not track it or the outcomes are not what the marketing implies.

8. 8

   How available are you outside class?

   Ask about office hours, email turnaround, and how many students they are already supervising. A generous stated policy from someone advising thirty students is not the same offer as it sounds.

9. 9

   How is advising handled, and who would mine be?

   Some departments assign advisors administratively and some let students choose. Ask how often you would meet and whether the advisor signs off on course choices, since that determines how much the relationship actually matters.

10. 10

    Which courses run every year, and which depend on one person being here?

    Programmes are advertised with a full catalogue and delivered with whatever staffing survives. If the course that attracted you runs when one person is not on leave, you want to know that before you enrol.

11. 11

    Has the department been hiring, and were recent retirements replaced?

    A department that does not replace departing faculty shrinks quietly: fewer electives, larger classes, thinner supervision. Faculty will usually answer this honestly because it affects them more than it affects you.

12. 12

    What has changed here in the last few years?

    Curriculum revisions, a new chair, a merger with another department, a shift in funding. Change is neither good nor bad by itself, but knowing what is in motion tells you what you would be walking into.

13. 13

    How do you prefer a student to approach you about working together?

    This is a practical question with a practical answer: an email with a specific idea, a visit in office hours, having taken a particular class first. Getting the protocol right removes the main barrier students trip on.

14. 14

    Are you taking new students, and how many do you supervise now?

    For any graduate programme this is the question that decides whether the visit was worth it. Someone at capacity, on sabbatical next year, or close to retirement cannot be your advisor no matter how well the meeting goes.

15. 15

    What does funding look like here, and for how many years is it guaranteed?

    Ask about the number of years, what teaching is required in exchange, whether summer is covered, and what happens if you need an extra year. Vagueness on funding at graduate level is a serious signal.

16. 16

    How much of the work here is independent, and how much is structured?

    Departments vary from weekly meetings and set milestones to almost total autonomy. Neither is better in the abstract, but the mismatch between what a student needs and what a department provides is the usual cause of stalling.

17. 17

    What happens when a student and an advisor cannot work together?

    Every programme has this happen. What matters is whether there is a route to change advisors that does not require the student to confront the person who controls their funding and their reference letter.

18. 18

    What kind of student is this programme not right for?

    Faculty who can answer this are describing the programme accurately rather than recruiting. An insistence that it suits everyone usually means enrolment targets are driving the conversation.

19. 19

    What would you change about this department if you could?

    Asked in person, this often gets a candid answer, because academics are practised complainers about their own institutions. Compare answers from several faculty and note whatever more than one of them names.

20. 20

    If you were choosing again, would you come here?

    Ask it last, lightly. The pause before the answer carries most of the information, and the elaboration afterwards tends to be the most honest thing said in the whole conversation.