The decision to enroll at any college isn’t easy. While parents decide on the school and high school that their children can attend, the decision to join any college is usually decided by the student.
If you’re such a student that plans on joining a college for an undergraduate degree, definitely, you would have a lot of questions in mind.
Actually, in such cases, ask these questions directly to the college. They have a lot of faculty members as well as admin officials that could easily answer some of your questions. And, you could also get several answers to your questions from students at the college.
There’re as many as 99 questions that you could ask colleges. You would definitely wonder: why so many questions? Therefore, continue reading. In this article, I will discuss about the importance of asking these questions. And, give you the 99 questions to ask colleges.
Therefore, let’s start by learning about the importance of asking these 99 questions to college admission officers and students.
Importance of Asking Questions to Colleges
There’re several reasons to ask questions to a college, which means asking such colleges to people working at their admin such as the Registrar, faculty, and students. In fact, you can also ask a few questions to their alumni, if you know anyone of find them on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Here’re the strong reasons to ask such questions.
Your Career
Obviously, choosing a college depends on the career you’re planning. That directly means that an undergraduate and graduate degree from the college or university would help get a dream job.
By asking these questions, check whether the college serves your career goals and whether their degree would help you enter that profession.
When choosing a college, it’s best to select one that would meet your long-time career goals. That’s because you can’t return to college later and do another degree, in most cases.
Acceptance of a Degree
The second most important thing to find out through questions is whether the degree that college gives, is acceptable across the USA and the world. Usually, most American degrees are valid around the world, though they might not be accepted widely across the USA itself.
That could be for several reasons, such as quality of the syllabus, teaching standards, research, and course-related work.
Syllabus of the Course
Generally speaking, the syllabus for any course would be somewhat similar to those offered by other colleges in the area, state, or even across America. However, it’s best to find out because some of the colleges might be following a slightly different or an altogether new syllabus.
It’s best to know whether the syllabus suits your career goals perfectly. Check also whether the college has online and classroom studies. Often, online classes or even recorded classes are useful, when we can’t attend one for any reason.
Campus and Facilities
Again, most colleges would have almost every facility on the campus. However, some colleges might have facilities such as a library or labs outside the campus.
That would give a fair idea of whether you need to commute to use these facilities. Also, find out what’re other facilities available on campus. This could include anything from a café to bookstores.
On Campus Hiring
A lot of large American corporations such as Charles Schwab and Lockheed Martin hire on campus. This means, they have job fairs and other events on campuses of various colleges in the country. That’s because they wish to attract young talent.
Such companies often pay full or part of your college fees, provided you work with them as an intern and later as a full-time employee. By joining a college that hosts such fairs and events, you can get a superb career option while studying.
Own Reasons
Obviously, you would be curious about a college and have several questions too. These could be anything from anti-ragging policies to payment of fees, dorms, and sports facilities. Therefore, the best thing to do is ask these questions to people that can answer them at the college.
This could include a mix such as admin, faculty, students as well as alumni, among others. There’s no point in leaving these questions and later regretting the decision to join a specific college for any reason.
99 Questions to Ask Colleges
Since we’re now aware of the six main reasons to ask questions to colleges, here’re the top 99 that could figure on your list, of course, you can modify them according to the college or what you wish to ask. That would help solve most doubts that you could have about a college.
To Admin Officials or Registrar:
- What makes this college so special?
- What are the top achievements of this college?
- Why should I join this college for my chosen career?
- How many undergraduates do you accept every academic term?
- What is the total number of students at this college?
- From which places are students at this college?
- Are there any foreign students at this college?
- Is this college affiliated or accredited to any university?
- Is the college financially stable?
- What are the annual dropout rates at the college?
- What are the main reasons for students to dropout?
- How many students switch to other colleges every year?
- Which are the topmost courses of this college?
- What is the median experience of the faculty?
- What are the main problems from students that admins handle?
- Does the college have any policies for LGBTQ students?
- Are there any facilities for persons with special needs?
- Does the college have on-campus accommodation?
- Are on-campus accommodation facilities available for persons with special needs?
- Does the college have any scholarships?
- Who qualifies for these scholarships?
- Are there any fee waiver programs?
- What is the average attendance per class?
- Is there any dress code at the college?
- What are the admission procedures for this college?
To Students and Alumni:
- Why did you choose this college?
- Are you getting what you had expected?
- Is the college serving your career goals?
- How many classes do you attend per week?
- Do we get printed notes?
- Why should I join this college?
- What do you plan to do after graduation?
- Are there supplementary classes available for all students?
- How’s the food at this college?
- What difficulties do you face as a student of this college?
- Do faculty members offer private coaching or teaching?
- How easy or difficult it is to get admission to this college?
- How many times a week do you attend classes?
- What teaching methods are used by the faculty?
- Is there any discrimination for any reason between students?
- Tell me the reasons I should not join this college?
- What happens if I fail a subject or a class?
- Does this college have a famous sports team?
- What’re the extracurricular activities at this college?
- Can we attend classes of guest faculty for another class?
To Faculty Members
- What are your teaching methods?
- Would you give me notes if I miss a class for any reason?
- How easy or difficult is the syllabus of your subject?
- Are any workshops held for students of this course?
- Are there any opportunities to work on the campus, if available?
- How does my major subject fit into my career goals?
- What are the different careers that you would consider after my graduation?
- Do you coach students after college hours?
- How many students fail your subject every year?
- How could I learn more about your subject outside your classes?
- Are there any extra classes you would suggest me to attend?
- Are you a guest faculty at any other college?
- From where does this college get its guest faculty?
- How many hours would it in an academic year to master your subject?
- Tell me something about the best academic programs at this college?
To College Tour Guides
- What are the objectives of this college tour?
- Who would be available to answer my questions?
- How long have you studied at this college?
- What’re the average GPAs per class?
- Are admission processes simple or difficult?
- Do I get a student loan easily by joining this college?
- What’re the average fees for studying this course at the college?
- Are students allowed to work during their free time?
- Does this college have agreements with companies for placements?
- What are the yearly expenses, including food, stay and other necessities such as study material, for studying at this college?
- If I can afford only $10,000 per year, is it possible to study at this college?
- Tell me about the history of this college over the years.
- Which year was my course launched at this college?
- Is this course different in any way from similar ones at other colleges?
- What kind of graduation of Master’s courses I can consider after completing Bachelor’s at this college?
- What is the minimum GPA required to get a seat at this college?
- Does the college have any policies about switching to other institutes, if I find the course irrelevant to my career goals?
- Has this college been in the news for any wrong reasons?
- How secure at students at this college against bullying and other threats?
- What would be the male-female ratio of students at this college?
General Questions for Anyone
- How many classes would be necessary to qualify for my major subject?
- Does the faculty use teaching assistants often?
- What are the criteria for admission to this specific course?
- How much reading, writing and other course-related work that I would require in a year?
- Is academic advice available for students?
- Are there counselors on the campus for students?
- What services does the careers office offer to students?
- Would freshmen and freshwomen get dorms on the campus?
- How does the on-campus dorm compare with other colleges?
- Are there any specific ways this college helps students to meet their financial needs?
- What are the policies on cellphones at this college?
- How much loan burden would I carry after completing my course?
- Tell me the profile of your successful students in my course.
- How ready I would be for the job market upon getting a degree from this college?
- Does this college have an honors college or post-graduate college too?
- What are the other comparable colleges in USA?
- Which colleges do students prefer to study after completing a course at this college?
- Does this college have agreements for direct admission for its students to any other colleges or universities?
- Does this college have any foreign or international accreditations?
Obviously, you can ask any of these questions to any person. It depends on who would be the best person to answer. Therefore, there’s no harm in asking the same question to two or even more people.
Since we now know the 99 questions to ask colleges, let’s find out how we can ask these questions and get a good insight into its courses.
Ways to Ask Questions to a College
Broadly speaking, there’re five different ways to ask any of these 99 questions to a college. And, I would recommend you use as many ways as possible to get answers for all doubts and questions about a college.
Here’re the four different ways.
Email the College
While at high school, you can start getting answers to some of these questions by sending an email to the college registrar. Generally, the email ID of the Registrar as well as other staff will be available on the college website.
You might also find some email IDs of faculty and researchers if any research-based papers are uploaded on the website.
Social Media
Most American colleges have a rather strong presence on Facebook. They allow people to send questions through the Facebook messaging system. You can ask a question or two. The social media handlers at the college will usually forward your questions to the right person and get the answers.
You can also find a lot of answers on their Facebook posts. Usually, social media managers of the college would be one or more students. That means, you can ask them all questions, one at a time.
There’s an amazing feature on LinkedIn: If you mention that college on your profile, it will automatically show you some of the former students or alumni members, with whom you could connect.
Many colleges also have their own LinkedIn profiles, where you can send them questions and get answers. If you can connect with faculty or a former student, the chances are that you can get superb answers to your questions, over a period of time.
You can also post a question on LinkedIn through the post and await a response from former students or faculty. This can prove one of the best ways to get answers.
Personal Visit
And, if you’re living nearby or visiting a city where the college is located, go there directly. You could take a prior appointment with the Registrar on phone or by email and meet them personally. That way, you can get some of these 99 questions for colleges answered directly.
If there’re any more questions, you could ask the Registrar to connect you with the right person for finding answers. All colleges are interested in getting fresher students. Hence, your requests will be granted in due time.
Campus Visits
High schools, colleges, and other organizations also hold campus visits. You could join such a campus visit and get answers to these 99 questions to ask colleges. Generally, tour or college visit guides are senior students or members of the faculty or admin officials.
These are the right people to ask your questions and get the necessary answers. If possible, inform the campus tour organizer that you’re interested in meeting the Registrar, faculty, and some students at the college.
Tips Before Asking 99 Questions to Colleges
Understandably, it would not be possible for anyone to ask all these 99 questions during a single session to the college. Therefore, you can look for some answers to these questions.
That way, you can remove those whose answers you got and ask the others. In fact, you can cut the number of questions by almost half.
Here’re some tips before asking these 99 questions to colleges.
- Read the college website and Facebook pages for some details.
- Get college prospectus and other promotional material.
- Ask former students, if you know any.
- Post questions on forums such as Quora and Yahoo! Answers.
- Read blogs and reviews of that college.
In fact, I would suggest you print out these questions. And, when you get the answers to any of these questions, write them down for reference. That could save a lot of time and effort in getting answers to these questions.
Closing Thoughts
Remember, the college dropout rate in USA stands at 40 percent or more. This dropout rate varies according to college and university. Dropping out of college is not desirable because it can severely hurt your career and future.
That makes it all the more important to ask these 99 questions to colleges. Once you register for a course and pay, it could be too late to regret it. Therefore, I suggest that you use this.