Questions to Ask Graduate Program
Questions for evaluating a taught masters or professional graduate program: total cost, class format, who does the teaching, what the capstone produces, what licence it qualifies you for, and whether the degree is the cheapest route to what you want.
The questions
Open any question for the note
Is this program built for people coming straight from a bachelors, or for people with several years of work behind them?
Why ask it
The answer determines who is sitting next to you and how much the classroom discussion is worth. A cohort of career changers with a decade of experience is a different product from one of recent graduates, and the same syllabus works very differently in each.
How many credits is the degree, and how long does that take full time and part time?
Why ask it
Credit counts vary widely between programs with identical names, and part time routes often stretch further than advertised because required courses run only once a year. Ask which courses are offered in which term, since that is what really sets the length.
What is the total cost including fees, and what is not included?
Why ask it
Per credit pricing hides the total, and the excluded items are usually substantial: books, software licences, exam fees, a residency week, travel. Ask for the all in figure for a full degree rather than a rate.
When do classes actually meet, and how much is online?
Why ask it
Programs describe themselves as flexible while requiring two weekday afternoons on campus. Ask for a real timetable from the current term. This is the single question most likely to determine whether you can keep your job.
Who teaches the core courses: full time faculty, adjuncts, or working practitioners?
Why ask it
None of the three is automatically better, but the mix tells you what the degree is for. Practitioners bring current practice and thin availability outside class; full time faculty are reachable but may be further from the field. Ask who taught each core course last year.
How is the degree split between coursework and a thesis or capstone, and can I choose?
Why ask it
The thesis route matters if you might continue to a doctorate; the capstone route usually matters more for employment. Programs that offer both often steer students by default, so ask how many took each option last year.
What does the capstone actually produce, and could I show it to an employer?
Why ask it
A real client project, a portfolio piece, or a piece of published analysis is worth far more than a paper read by one instructor. Ask to see two recent examples, which programs proud of the work will provide readily.
What share of the cohort is working full time while enrolled?
Why ask it
This shapes everything from when group work gets scheduled to how much reading is realistically assigned. If most students are full time and you are not, you will be the one arriving late to every group meeting.
Is there a required internship or placement, and does the program arrange it or do I?
Why ask it
The difference between a placement office with employer relationships and a requirement you must satisfy yourself is enormous, particularly if you are new to the city or the field. Ask how many students last year struggled to find one.
What licence, certification, or exam eligibility does this degree confer, and does it transfer between states or countries?
Why ask it
In counselling, teaching, accounting, engineering, social work, and public health, the accreditation is the whole point, and a program without the right recognition can leave a graduate unable to practise. Verify the accreditor's name yourself rather than accepting a general assurance.
Which employers hired from the last two graduating classes?
Why ask it
Ask for names and counts rather than a percentage employed, which can include anyone with any job. A concentrated list tells you which industry the program actually feeds, which may not be the one in the marketing.
What do graduates earn, and how is that figure collected?
Why ask it
The method matters more than the number. A voluntary survey with a low response rate flatters itself, since people with good outcomes are the ones who reply. Ask what share of graduates the figure is based on.
What happens if I need to pause for a term?
Why ask it
Life interrupts part time study often. Ask about the leave process, whether tuition rates are locked on return, and whether credits expire, because time limits on credit validity catch people who take two years out.
Can I take one course before applying, and would it count toward the degree?
Why ask it
Many programs allow this and few advertise it. One course is the cheapest possible test of the teaching quality and the workload, and if the credit transfers you have lost nothing by trying before committing.
How much of the assessment is group work?
Why ask it
Worth knowing before you enrol, especially for anyone working shifts or in another time zone. Heavy group assessment in a cohort with mismatched schedules is the most common source of unhappiness in taught programs.
Who advises me on course selection, and how often would we meet?
Why ask it
A named advisor with scheduled meetings prevents the common expensive error of taking courses that do not count toward the degree. If advising is handled by a shared inbox, expect to manage your own audit of requirements.
What support exists for someone returning to study after years away?
Why ask it
Statistics refreshers, writing support, and library training make a real difference to anyone who last wrote an essay a decade ago. Ask whether these exist as scheduled provision or as something a student has to seek out.
What share of students finish within the expected time?
Why ask it
Completion rates are lower in part time and professional programs than most applicants expect, and the causes are usually structural: courses not offered often enough, or a capstone with no supervision. Ask what the main reason is here.
What do students who left before finishing usually say happened?
Why ask it
Programs know this and will often answer plainly. Cost, a job change, and an unsupervised capstone are the common answers, and each one tells you a different thing about what to protect against.
Given what I want to do afterwards, is this degree the right route, or is there a cheaper one?
Why ask it
A program willing to say a certificate, a licence exam, or two years of experience would serve you better is demonstrating something useful about its honesty. An answer that recommends the degree regardless of your goal is a sales answer.
Assessing a Taught Graduate Program
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Checks Worth Doing Yourself
Verify Accreditation at the Source
If the degree exists to make you eligible for a licence or exam, look up the program on the accrediting or licensing body's own register rather than trusting the program's page. Where recognition is provisional or pending, find out what happens to students already enrolled if it is not granted.
Price the Whole Degree, Not the Term
Multiply credits by the per credit rate, add every mandatory fee, add books and software, then subtract any employer contribution. Compare that figure against the salary change you are expecting, and be honest that the change may take several years to appear.
Get a Real Timetable
Ask for the current term's actual schedule, including when required courses run and how often. This is where flexible programs turn out to be inflexible, and it is far better to discover it before you have paid a deposit.
Talk to Two Current Students and One Recent Graduate
Current students know the workload and the teaching; a graduate a year or two out knows whether the degree did anything for their work. Programs will supply names, and asking to speak to someone who works while enrolled is a reasonable request.
Money Questions People Forget
- Whether your employer pays, how much, and whether it obliges you to stay for a period afterward.
- Whether tuition is locked at your entry rate or rises annually while you study part time.
- What fees apply per term regardless of how many courses you take, which penalises going slowly.
- Whether scholarships and assistantships exist for taught masters students, which is far less common than for doctoral students but not unheard of.
- The cost of any required residency, field trip, or exam sitting, which is frequently outside tuition.
- What happens financially if you withdraw mid term, since refund schedules are usually strict and tiered by week.
Where People Get This Wrong
Assuming the Degree Is the Requirement
For a number of career changes, employers want a licence, a portfolio, or demonstrated experience, and the degree is one route among several. Ask people doing the job you want how they got there before assuming this is the path.
Believing Flexible Means Asynchronous
Flexible frequently means recordings are available while attendance is still expected, or that group work must be scheduled with people in other time zones. Read the attendance policy rather than the marketing copy.
Ignoring Who Teaches
A program can be housed in a well regarded institution while its core courses are taught entirely by rotating adjuncts with no office hours. Ask for the instructor list from last year, not the faculty page.
Committing to Part Time Without Testing It
One course while working is the honest trial. Many people find the load manageable and many find it impossible, and it costs far less to learn this in one term than to withdraw halfway through a degree.