Good and bad questions to ask during college campus visits

There’s no such thing as a stupid question.

We’ve all been told that. But when it comes to college campus visits, there are questions you can ask that are much more valuable than others.

You don’t want to waste your time with questions that are answered on the college’s website, or even on CollegeIQ for that matter. We promise you that your tour guides are tired of reciting student-to-faculty ratios and undergraduate enrollment numbers. Instead, try to ask questions that have unique answers and dig deeper than the college’s brochure.

When you visit a school, here are some questions you can ask your tour guide, presenter, or admissions counselor.

Question: Tell me about the most recent time you wanted to talk to a professor outside of class. How did you contact them, and how much time did they spend helping you?

Student-to-faculty ratios and classes by size are available for all schools in CollegeIQ. Here’s an example for William & Mary college in Virginia:

It’s helpful to review these numbers to understand how many students each teacher has. But how does this translate to your school experience?

Asking this question will help you understand how accessible professors are outside of class.

Question: What is the biggest positive surprise you had after coming to school here? What is the biggest negative surprise you had after coming to school here?

This is a good question to ask a tour guide, and in this order. Soften them up with an easy question about what positive surprise they had. Then, ask them what a negative surprise was. They will likely try to think of something that’s not particularly bad, but you might be surprised by what you hear. It might be something the school tries to hide.

Some answers might be:

“I was surprised how many students leave for the weekend.”

“I was surprised how competitive some of my peers are.”

“I was surprised how many/how few parties there are.”

Once you have the answer, follow up with the question, “How has this impacted your time here?”

Question: How many hours do you study each week, and is that typical for students here?

A big change as students transition from high school to college is how much time they spend studying outside of class. Less time is usually spent in the classroom, and more is spent studying.

Asking this question will help you gauge what this experience might be like at the college. It’s important to ask this question to multiple people; some are more studious than others!

Question: What is access to an academic advisor like, and did you have the same advisor all years of school?

Navigating college so you get the right classes and graduate on time is much trickier than in high school.

Be careful if someone tells you they were passed around from advisor to advisor. This is a red flag that should be investigated further to find out if it’s common.

Question: When you registered this semester, did you get all of the classes you wanted at the time you wanted?

This will help you understand how difficult it is to register for the classes you need. If you just ask, “How hard is it to get the classes you want?” You’ll probably get a canned answer such as, “It’s not too hard.” Asking specifically about the most recent time they registered will get you a more concrete answer.

You can follow it up by asking the question more generally.

Question: Can I try the food?

Ah, college food. A rite of passage, and it’s usually not that great.

Of course, asking for someone’s opinion about the food leaves much open to individual tastes. Instead, ask the tour guide or admissions counselor if you can eat on campus. Some schools might charge for the meal, but it’s worth every penny to find out just how bad the school food is. Or maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised!

Question: Have you ever experienced an academic or social challenge at school, and who did you turn to for help?

It can be difficult to gauge the quality of a school's support system, but this question can help you understand what support looks like.

Did the person turn to their Resident Advisor? A school employee?

If they say they haven’t needed help, ask them who they would turn to if they had an issue.

Question: Have any of your friends transferred out, and why did they leave?

Schools hate to talk about attrition, but it’s critical for students to understand why some people who enroll don’t stick around.

Don’t waste your time asking how many people leave the school — you can get that information on CollegeIQ. Each of the Academics sections on CollegeIQ shows the first-year retention rate, four-year graduation rate, and 6-year graduation rate. Here's a recent example from University of Florida:

If the first year retention rate is lower than other similar schools, it’s completely fair to ask about it. And press the admissions department for an answer.

Perhaps there is a good answer:

“Some students come here with plans to transfer to a more prestigious school. We lose x% of students each year to schools x, y, and z.”

But some answers should be a red flag.

“A lot of students just can’t handle the academics.” This is problematic because the school has deemed the students worthy of admission. How is it getting this so wrong? Or does it accept lots of students, knowing many will fail? How can you be sure you’re one of the students who can handle the academics?

Question: If you could change one thing about the school, what would it be?

This open-ended question is one your guide may not be prepared for, and that’s a good thing. Maybe they will complain about social life. Or academics. Or the dorms. Whatever it is, it’s worth investigating a bit more to see if other students have the same complaint.

Question: How much of your Early Decision pool is made up of recruited athletes?

Applying Early Decision to a school can drastically increase your chances of getting in.

Here are acceptance rates at some schools for Early Decision vs. Regular decision in a recent year:

• Tulane University - 68% Early Decision, 11% overall

• Duke University - 23% Early Decision, 6% overall

• Northeastern University - 33% Early Decision, 7% overall

• Columbia University - 12% Early Decision, 4% overall

This data can be misleading at certain schools, though. Some schools fill up a lot of their Early Decision round with recruited athletes who are essentially guaranteed admission.

Many admissions counselors won’t know the number off the top of their head. But if you’re considering applying ED to a school to get a bump in acceptance odds, it’s worth prying a bit more.

The silent question

There’s one more thing to notice while on campus, and it doesn’t require a question.

Is this a heads-up college campus or a heads-down campus?

When you walk around campus, do people have their heads up as they talk to other people on campus? Or are they heads down, looking at their phones or the ground?

It’s amazing how much this can tell you about a school.