9 Good Questions to Ask During Your College Interview

Let’s talk about good questions to ask on your college interview!

“What questions should I be asking during my college interview, Lisa?”

If there’s one question that stumps a lot of students on the college interview, it’s (ironically!) “What questions do you have for me?”

It seems like a throwaway at the end of the interview, but please don’t blow this question off!

It may not seem like it, but when I interviewed students for college, I always considered this the most important question of the interview. It’s the question that to me really indicated how interested they were in the school or job, and it’s also the question that would give me the best sense of what things they most cared about.

But what are good questions to ask during a college interview? And how do you come up with good questions?

How to Ask Good Questions During Your College Interview

Here are some things to keep in mind that will go along way to helping you ask good questions during your college interview:

Good questions for college interviews come from the conversation you have with your college interviewer.

Your College Interview Should Be a Conversation

One of the biggest misconceptions I come across when I help students prep for their college interviews is that they’re going to go in, the interviewer is going to be fire a series of pre-set questions at them to answer, and they’re either going to pass this “test” or fail, with a few minutes left over at the end to ask questions.

Nothing could be further from the truth! I don’t know of any college or university that uses a pre-set question format for their interviews, so there’s no magical list of questions that you’re going to get during your interview.

Now, there are some very common questions that often come up during college interviews like “What are some interests you’d like to explore in college?,” “Tell me about a favorite book you’ve read recently,” “What has been your favorite class in high school and why?”, etc., but you may get a lot of those questions, only one or two, or none at all.

Instead, when college interviews are going well, they’re really much more of a conversation between the interviewer and the student than any pre-scripted set of questions. The interviewer will ask you a question, you’ll respond, and (hopefully!), from that initial question, a conversation will develop where both of you will naturally makes comments and ask questions.

For example, your interviewer may ask about extracurriculars you have participated in, and you may respond that (among other things), you have volunteered at your local hospital. As you talk about that, you may ask opportunities to volunteer at the university hospital or (if the college interviewer is an alum), what kind of volunteer work they may have done during college.

If you and the interviewer have overlapping interests (for example, if you are a budding engineer and they were an engineering major), it would be natural to ask about their experiences in the program as you talk about your own interest in engineering. Or if you are a violinist, and the interviewer mentions that they played in the university orchestra in college, you may want to ask: “Oh, what was that like? What do you remember about experience? Are you still in touch with the people you played with?”

So don’t stop yourself from asking questions as they naturally come up during the interview! Those questions should be part of your conversation.

And if the conversation and questions flow naturally, the interview is going to be a much more enjoyable experience both for you and the interviewer, and the interviewer will get a much better insight into who you are as a person and your personality (which is the whole point of the college interview!).

Good questions for your college interview may be about activities you want to highlight for your college interviewer. — Good questions for your college interview can be about an experience you’d like to highlight.

College Interview Pro Tip: Is there something you’d like to highlight for your college interviewer? Some topic you definitely want to talk about? Ask a question that steers the conversation in that direction.

For example, maybe your experiences with Model United Nations have been really important to you, and you’d like to say something about that during your interview. You could mention that your experiences with MUN got you interested in international relations, and ask a question about opportunities for overseas study, Or maybe you organized a student forum on the environment at your high school, and you’d like to know more about inter-university events?

While I’d caution you about being obnoxious about it (Nobody likes questions that are really monologues in disguise!), are there things you’ve done that you’d like to build on in college? Think about if there’s a question you’d like to ask about it!

2. Your College Interview Is also Your Chance to Interview the College

Believe it or not, the point of college interviews isn’t just for the college to decide if they like you (although that’s part of it). Colleges offer interviews so you can decide if you like them as well. The “Are we a good fit?” question goes both ways!

So as much as the college is trying to get an idea of who you are as a person beyond your application file, this is also your opportunity to spend some time with a live person who has some real, up-close and person experience with this institution where you may be spending the next 4ish years.

Take advantage of this opportunity! In the limited time that you have, what do you want to ask this person?

This is the perfect time to ask.

Your college interview is also your chance to interview the college.. So ask good questions! — Your college interview is also your chance to interview the college! So ask good questions!

So if research opportunities are important to you? You might ask your interviewer if they did any research while they were a student, and if so, what it was like. Or you’ve always been active in community service? Is this something that your interviewer participated in, or did they know somebody who did?

Of course, this is easiest if you and your interviewer have overlapping interests, but even if your biggest interests are computer science and music, and your interviewer was a political science major and competitive athlete, you can still ask more general questions that give you a sense of life at this school: “Why did you pick this school?”, “What do you wish more people knew about about….?”, “What was dorm life like for you?”, etc.

College Interview Prep Pro Tip: Don’t ask questions that you can look up on the college’s website! To make the most of the time you have with this person, ask questions that only someone who knows the school well will be able to answer.

Even if your interviewer doesn’t know the answer to your interest-specific questions (which could be true is they’re an alum), you’ll still get a much better conversation out of a question like, “What do you think is the biggest benefit of an education at …?” than “Am I guaranteed 4 years of housing?”

Good questions to ask on a college interview can come from what you care about! — Good questions to ask on a college interview can come from the things you care about!

3. It’s Okay To Ask Tough Questions About What You Care About

As you come up with questions for your interviewer, don’t shy away from tougher topics. If the question is important to you (and you’re polite about it!), it’s totally okay to ask.

In fact, asking a tough, substantive question can be a terrific way to show sincere interest the school!

What kind of question do I mean?

Well, think of things you’re passionate about. Are there things that you would want to know about this school to see if it’s in alignment with your values?

Do you want to ask about its commitment to diversity in its student body, faculty, and staff? Is it divesting itself from fossil fuels? What about how the administration handles protests on campus?

With so many colleges and universities being in the news lately (e.g. “Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns,” “Police Clear Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia University,” “Inside Stanford’s War On Fun,” there may be a specific news item that you feel strongly about!

While this is not the time to launch a monologue or get all “holier-than-thou,” if this is something you are sincerely interested in, this is the time to ask your question!

But what about the more general questions you'll want to ask during your college interview? The ones that will be both give you some real insight into the college, as well as show your interest in the school and values?

Well, here are some excellent examples of more general questions to ask during your college interview…

9 Good Questions to Ask on Your College Interview — Need more inspiration? Here are 9 good questions to ask during your college interview.

9 Good Questions to Ask During Your College Interview

In most cases (seriously, 99% of college interviews), your college interviewers will be alums of that school. If that’s the case, here are general questions that work especially well for alum interviewers:

“Why did you choose [this college]? And did it live up to your expectations?”
“What did you major in at [this college]? And what did you think of the experience?”
“What’s your favorite memory from your time at [the college]?”
“What do you think the biggest benefit of your education has been?”
“What do you think is different about [this college] that sets it apart from other schools?”
“Is there any advice that you would give to incoming freshman? What do you think that new students should know as they’re starting [ti?”
“Is there anything you think [the college] DOESN’T do well? What could they improve?”
“Besides interviewing, how do you stay involved with [the college]? Are you active in [the college’s] alumni networks? Why?”
“What do you wish more people knew about [the college]?”