I have an opportunity to talk in person with a CMU admissions counselor. What types of questions should I ask them: specific to CMU or generally related to the college admissions process? What sorts of questions should I ask to gain the most amount of information? I feel like I’ve already asked a large portion of the questions I had trouble with, and I can’t do much more than what I’ve already asked and gotten answers to.
I would ask them questions more geared towards CMU.
The following may be of some use to you; it is an excerpt from a website that I saw a few years ago when I was delving into college tours. Although is specifically was for on-campus interviews, it may also apply to personal interviews done at a distance:
GOOD AND BAD QUESTIONS TO ASK
WHILE INTERVIEWING ON CAMPUS
“What can I tell you about our college?”
Nearly all college interviewers will give you an opportunity to ask questions of your own. The purpose of the interview isn't strictly for the college to evaluate you. You are also evaluating the college. During a good interview, the interviewer gets to know you well, and you get to know the college better. Both you and the college should have a better sense of whether or not the college is a good match for you.
That said, when it is your turn to ask questions, realize that you are still being evaluated. Although you may have teachers and parents who have told you that “there are no stupid questions,” there are, in fact, some questions that can reflect poorly upon you.
BAD Questions To Ask
In general, you don’t want to ask questions like these during the interview:
(1) “How big is your school?”
(2) “Do you offer a major in _________?”
These first two questions can be answered easily with a quick look at the college’s website. By asking them, you suggest that you haven’t done any research and you know almost nothing about the school to which you are applying.
(3) “How much do your graduates make?”
A question about graduate salaries is certainly valid, and it may be something you want to consider before you accept an offer of admission from a college. However, the interview isn’t the best time to ask the question. If you focus on salaries, you run the danger of coming across as someone who is overly materialistic. You don’t want to sound as if you care more about a paycheck than your undergraduate experience.
(4) “What makes your college better than your competitor?”
This question is also an important one to get answered, but you want to set the right tone for your interview. If you put your interviewer on the defensive, he or she might respond negatively.
(5) “How easy is it to get an ‘A’?”
Think about how a question like this will come across – you will sound as if you want easy “A”s in college. The interviewer, of course, is looking for students who will work hard to earn their grades. You may very well be nervous about how difficult the college will be, but you should try to keep that anxiety out of the interview.
GOOD Questions To Ask
So what are some good questions to ask? In general, anything that presents you in a positive light and pushes beyond what you can learn from the college’s website and brochures:
(1) “I'm interested in _____________ but didn't see it listed among your clubs. Would I be able to start a _____________ club at your college? What’s the process for starting a new student organization?”
(2) “I see you have a self-designed major. What kinds of majors have some of your students designed? Could I use the self-designed major to bring together my interests in ___________ and ____________?”
(3) “I see that all of your first-year students participate in service learning. In what kinds of projects do they often participate?”
(4) “If I major in ______________, are there likely to be any opportunities for me to do an internship or work with a professor on research?”
(5) “I see that your school has an Honors program. How many students participate in it, and what are the advantages of being in it?
(6) “How would you describe the personality of your campus? In broad terms, what are the students like?”
(7) “What would you say is the most remarkable feature of your college that isn’t presented in your brochures or on your website?”
For a student interviewer:
(8) “Based on your personal experience here, what is the most notable thing about this school that you would want someone like me to know about? If there is one thing that you could change about this school, what would it be?”
Be yourself and ask questions that you actually want answered. When done well, asking questions of your interviewer can be both fun and informative. The best questions show that you know the college relatively well and that your interest in the school is sincere.
(from About.com College Admissions, “What Can I Tell You About Our College?” [Jan. 21, 2014]).
One thing that happened when I was on a tour of CMU two years ago was that our tour group had paused at a certain spot on campus to listen to the two student tour leaders impart some information about the school, when an (apparent) student strode by and addressed the group at large with the question, “Have they told you that Carnegie Mellon has the highest suicide rate in the country?” He then walked off without waiting for a response. We all turned to the tour group leaders, who looked stunned and then responded with, “Well . . . we have great counseling services!” (Not exactly a reassuring answer.)
I don’t know whether what the provocative student said to our tour group was true or not; he might have simply been disgruntled. And, it might be a little awkward to ask your interviewer outright about suicides on campus. But perhaps you can ask about stress levels on campus (for example, how stressed do students in your major tend to be), whether stress is a problem that is recognized by the university, and what resources are available for students who get overly stressed out. It could be a tough call.