Researching colleges and universities can be very overwhelming. From guidebooks to college websites, there is a TON of information out there! But reading sources and statistics can only get you so far. There is one invaluable resource in your college search that should not be overlooked: college admissions counselors. If you have the opportunity to connect with a college admissions counselor, whether that is face-to-face on a campus visit or college fair or over email, it is crucial to know what questions to ask a college admissions counselor, and, just as important, what questions not to ask.

What questions to ask a college admissions counselor

Talking to someone who knows the ins and outs of the college or university you’re interested in is a very good opportunity that you should not pass up. It’s important to come prepared and know what questions to ask the college admissions counselor, both so that you can impress the admissions counselor and so that you can get the most possible out of the conversation.

As you’re preparing to talk to college admissions counselors, it can be helpful to understand what role admissions counselors actually play in the admissions process. Admissions counselors play dual roles: they are “counseling” you about whether their school is a good fit. But ultimately they are also sales people: they are trying to give you a good impression of their school so that you’ll apply and possibly choose to attend. For that reason, admissions counselors tend to accentuate the positive and play down the negative. Therefore when asking questions, be sure to ask follow up questions that probe their statements further. Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions or ask for examples. Remember: you are trying to make a good impression on your admissions counselor, but ultimately, this conversation is for you. This is your education, after all. Make sure you use this conversation shrewdly to evaluate whether or not a particular school will be right for you.

Who would be teaching my classes?

You know what environment suits your learning style, and it’s important to understand who will be teaching your classes in order to see if the learning environment at a given school is right for you. At some schools, professors teach all of the classes, while other schools rely on graduate students to do much of the teaching. Even at schools where professors do all or most of the teaching, it can still be helpful to understand who the professors are. Are they full professors who have been with that college or university for twenty years? Does the school have trouble retaining professors, instead rotating new people in every year or so? What percentage of instructors are full-time, tenured professors, and what percentage are part-time adjunct professors? Are individual faculty members in your major people whose interests align with yours

What health and mental health resources are available for students? Is it difficult for students to access these resources?

Your mental and physical health are super important! Colleges try their best to provide the mental and physical health resources that their students need, but schools aren’t always able to meet the needs of their students. Especially if you have a mental or physical health condition that you’ve dealt with in the past, you want to make sure that the school not only has the resources you need to stay healthy, but that they have enough of those resources that you’ll be able to access care when you need it.

What academic support and advising services are available for students? How available are these services?

College is hard! Before you even start your classes, it can be challenging to know which classes to sign up for. Most colleges offer some sort of academic advising, but the quality may vary. Will you have one academic advisor or more than one? Is your academic advisor someone you will be able to build a relationship with over the course of your four years? Is this going to be someone whose door is always open, or will you find yourself unable to access that support when you need it? In some places, it’s professors who advise, often in a department that coincides with your general interests. In other places, there are “professional” advisors who will help make sure you have the right amount of credits and fulfill all the requirements, but they may not help you probe your interests and to ensure that you’re on the best academic path for you.

The challenges certainly don’t end once you’ve chosen your classes. You want to make sure that the college or university will set you up for academic success. Many colleges offer tutoring, writing labs, math labs, and other academic supports. Find out how easy or difficult it is to access these services, and how robust the services are. If you have a learning difference, this is also a good opportunity for you to inquire whether they have additional academic support services for students with learning differences. In that case, you may even want the admissions counselor to make an introduction to the staff in that office so that you can learn more specifically about how that office can address your needs. 

What programs or structures are in place to help students who live on campus build community?

For many students, building campus community is an important reason to go to college in the first place, and the friends you make while you’re in college can help you be happier and more successful, both during and after school. Making friends is not always easy, but some colleges and universities have structures and programs to help you do just that. These might include formal, fairly intensive programs such as Living Learning Communities; less intensive programs like study breaks for your floor organized by your RA; or simple but intentional design elements such as ensuring that each floor in the residence halls has a shared lounge and study space. Try to ascertain to what extent the college is going to help you build community and whether or not the structures they offer are things you would be interested in.

To what extent are students who live off-campus involved in the campus community? What percentage of students live off-campus, and how far away from campus do they live?

Regardless of whether or not you plan to live off-campus at any point during your time as an undergraduate, if community is important to you, you want to understand the involvement from students who live off-campus. In some schools, kids who live off-campus might be living with other students in a house just across the street from the school. In other cases, off-campus living might mean sharing an apartment twenty or thirty minutes away with people not involved in the school at all. As you can imagine, those differing circumstances will have an effect on the community feel of the school, especially if you are one of the students living off-campus.

What characteristics and qualities help students succeed at this college or university?

This question will help you get your admissions counselor to articulate what they might be looking for in a student. You can use this information in two ways. First, you can consider whether or not the successful student they are describing sounds like you, in order to help determine for yourself whether or not this school would be a good fit for you. Second, if you do decide that you want to apply to this school, you can use your application to highlight the qualities the admissions officer listed, in order to better persuade admissions officers that you would be successful at this school.

What are the top three values that guide this college or universities?

Before you talk to your admissions counselor, read the school’s mission statement. (You can generally find this by Googling “[X College] Mission Statement” or simply by poking around the website.) Here is an example. Colleges and universities are mission-driven, meaning they exist for a purpose other than to make money. If a college or university is run well, it will use its values to guide every decision it makes. Understanding what those values are is super important! For one thing, it can help you assess whether or not your values are aligned with those of the institution in order to understand whether this is a good place for you: you will most likely be much happier and more successful at a school that champions your values. Secondly, once you understand the guiding principles of an institution, you can better understand how to demonstrate to the school that you as an applicant will help them achieve those principals. For example, if this is an institution that strongly values innovation, showing the ways that you have been innovative throughout high school can be very powerful. Finally, asking your admissions counselor about the values after you’ve read the mission statement can give you a glimpse into how seriously the institution takes its stated values. 

What percentage of students who don’t qualify for need-based financial aid receive merit-based financial aid? What’s the average dollar amount of merit-based financial aid offered?

Financial fit is a very important aspect of choosing a college, and it is not talked about enough! If you don’t qualify for a lot of need-based financial aid but still need help affording college, it is tempting to assume that you’ll just get a big merit scholarship or that your family will “just make it work.” It is a mistake to make these assumptions. Schools vary widely in the amount of merit-based financial aid they give out. Some schools will offer merit-based financial aid to almost every applicant, while other schools do not offer merit-based financial aid at all. Even for schools that do offer merit-based aid, the awards might not be that robust. Some schools will offer only a small amount of aid to each person, or the aid they offer might be for only one year or might be in the form of work-study or loans, which is money you have to earn and pay back later. Other schools might be in the habit of offering larger grants (money you don’t have to pay back) that are renewable for four years. If you will need merit-based financial aid to pay for college, it is very important to ask early on and understand how realistic it might be for you to be offered that aid.

How hard is it to change majors within and across different schools or colleges?

Some colleges, particularly smaller liberal arts colleges, have all of the majors housed in one college. Other institutions will have multiple schools or colleges, such as the college of liberal arts, the college of business, the college of performing arts, and the college of engineering. Depending on the structure and policies of the school, it may be difficult to transfer from one major to another, especially if those majors are housed in different colleges within the university. Especially if you are not as sure of your major choice, it is important to understand how easy or hard it is at that particular institution to change your mind and switch majors down the road.

What are the three weakest departments at your school?

Ask this question before you tell your admissions officer what your academic interests are! You don’t necessarily have to go to a school that is especially well-known for your particular major in order to get a good education. However, if you have particular academic interests, you will want to make sure that the schools you’re considering have the resources you’ll need to pursue your academic focus. 

How easy or difficult is it to do mentored research or another mentored project with a professor? What percentage of graduating seniors do some sort of mentored project?

It doesn’t matter if your school is publishing the most cutting-edge, prestigious research in the world if you don’t get to participate in the research process! You are going to college to learn, and one of the very best ways to do that is by pursuing some sort of project under the close guidance of faculty members. Don’t be satisfied with a vague, glossy promise that faculty are “very involved” or that a school is classified as having “high research activity.” Instead, probe and try to determine whether or not you personally will be able to benefit from these opportunities.

What questions to not ask your admissions counselor

Now that we’ve looked at which questions you should ask, which questions should you avoid?

Questions to which you can easily find the answers

• Is your school public or private?

• What’s the average class size of your school?

• What’s the acceptance rate at your school?

• What’s this school’s retention rate/graduation rate/job placement rate?

The answers to the questions above can all be helpful in deciding whether or not a school is right for you. That being said, these are all questions whose answers are readily found on the internet, in guidebooks, and in physical brochures or other materials the school might publish. You want to show your college admissions counselor that you have taken the time to do a basic amount of research on your own and that you are respectful of their time. Asking these questions will show just the opposite.

Do you think this is the right school for me?

Unless your admissions officer is your aunt or uncle, chances are they don’t know the answer to this question, because they don’t know you! The college admissions counselor is a school representative, so let them do just that: represent the school. They are happy to give you information about the school and get to know you a bit, but at the end of the day, it’s your job to decide whether or not you and this institution are a good fit for each other. Assuming the answer is yes, it is your responsibility to convince the admissions counselor that you are the right choice for them (and vice versa) on your college application.

Talking to a college admissions counselor one-on-one is an invaluable opportunity to gather information about a college and deciding whether or not it is the right fit for you. It is important to know what questions you should ask a college admissions counselor in order to make the most of this helpful opportunity.

Need help in deciding what questions to ask a college admissions counselor?

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