2021 talk:Forum/Possible questions to ask in the interviews

Possible questions to ask in the interviews

Understanding how students experience their first year at your school is a very broad topic (this is on purpose, so that you can identify possible opportunities in many areas of the students' experience). Here are some themes and potential questions to narrow it down (you can start by focusing on one area, and then see where the conversation takes you).

Important: You are not required to ask all the questions proposed here. You can select one or two as a starting point, or feel free to come up with your own questions.

The most important thing is that you ask follow-up questions during the interview. That means that after you hear an interesting response, you ask the person to elaborate, by asking "Can you tell me more about that?"

Questions about...

Motivations:

• Why did you choose to attend this school?
• What are you passionate about?
• If you had to declare a mission instead of a major, what would that mission be? ^(*)

Skills:

• What skills do you feel are important for you to acquire? Why?

Curriculum:

• What classes will you be taking (or did you take) in the first semester?
• Which classes would you take if you could create your "dream curriculum"?

Environment/space:

• What is your favorite classroom or space in the school? Why?
• Where do you spend most of your time when you are in school?

Learning outside of the classroom:

• Outside of school, what are things you are interested in?

Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Design Thinking:

• What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say "Innovation"? What about "Entrepreneurship"?
• Would you be interested in taking an innovation, entrepreneurship or design class? Why or why not?

(*) this question was inspired by the d.school's Stanford 2025 project. You can learn more about at http://www.stanford2025.com/#intro.