1. What does a typical week actually look like for this specific course?
Contact hours, class sizes, and the balance between lectures, seminars, and independent study vary hugely between universities offering what appears to be the same subject on paper.
Asking for a genuinely specific weekly breakdown from the admissions team, or better still, a current student, gives a far more accurate sense of what daily academic life would actually involve.
2. What do recent graduates in this specific course actually do afterward?
General university-wide employment statistics tell you considerably less than outcomes specifically for your intended department and course.
Requesting course-specific graduate outcome data, or seeking out recent graduates directly through alumni networks, gives a much clearer sense of what a degree from this specific course actually translates into.
3. What’s the city or town actually like to live in, day to day?
Cost of living, city size, transport, and the general social scene all affect daily life more than most students anticipate before actually arriving.
This is worth researching with the same seriousness as academic factors, reading about the specific city and being honest with yourself about what kind of environment you’d actually thrive in.
4. What support exists specifically for international students?
This varies significantly between universities, dedicated international student advisors and the quality of visa support are genuinely not the same everywhere.
Asking specific questions here, not just do you support international students but what exactly does that look like, tends to reveal meaningful differences between institutions.
5. What happens if I want to switch course or take a leave of absence?
Policies here differ meaningfully between universities, and this is a much easier question to ask before enrolling than to discover the answer to after something unexpected happens.
Understanding a university’s flexibility around changing course or taking leave provides useful insight into how the institution handles students whose circumstances don’t follow the expected path.
Why asking specific questions works better than asking general ones
A general question like “is the support good here” invites a general, reassuring answer that tells you very little. A specific question like “what happens in the first 48 hours if an international student has a medical emergency” forces a specific, checkable answer that actually reveals how prepared the institution genuinely is.
This principle applies across all five questions above, the more specific and scenario-based the question, the more genuinely useful the answer tends to be, since vague questions almost always receive polished, reassuring, but ultimately uninformative responses from any admissions team.
What to do once you have answers from multiple universities
Once these questions have been asked consistently across every university on a shortlist, the answers are worth writing down side by side rather than relying on memory, since the differences between institutions are often more about accumulated small details than one dramatic, obvious distinguishing factor.
A simple comparison table covering these five areas across each shortlisted university tends to make the eventual decision noticeably clearer than relying on a general overall impression formed after several separate conversations.
A sixth question worth adding for international applicants specifically
Beyond the five core questions, international applicants specifically benefit from asking what proportion of the current international student body comes from a similar background or region, since this affects the likelihood of finding an existing peer community with shared cultural context, without needing that community to be the only source of friendships.
This isn’t about seeking a comfortable bubble rather than genuine integration, it’s about understanding realistically what support network already exists on arrival, which matters more in the first few disorienting weeks than it will later in the degree.
Why these questions matter more than they might initially seem
It’s tempting to treat these as secondary questions compared to academic reputation or course content, but in practice, the answers to these five questions shape daily satisfaction far more consistently than a subtle difference in academic ranking ever does. Students rarely regret a degree because the department was ranked a few places lower than expected. They far more commonly regret one because the day-to-day support, workload, or city fit turned out to be genuinely mismatched with what they needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who should I actually ask these questions to?
Current students where possible, plus the university’s own admissions or international office, comparing what each source tells you often reveals useful nuance.
Is it appropriate to ask these questions during an open day or admissions interview?
Yes, generally, admissions staff expect and welcome specific questions, and asking them signals genuine engagement.
What if a university is reluctant to answer these questions specifically?
This is itself useful information. A university confident in its offering generally has no difficulty providing specific answers.
Should I ask these same questions for every university on my shortlist?
Yes, consistency in the questions asked makes the answers genuinely comparable across your different options.
How do I find current students to speak with if I don’t know anyone at the university?
University-run open days, official student ambassador programmes, and student-run social media accounts are all reasonable starting points.
Why do specific, scenario-based questions work better than general ones?
General questions invite polished, reassuring but uninformative answers. Specific, scenario-based questions force a concrete answer that actually reveals how prepared an institution is.
Why does the size of the existing international community matter for international applicants?
It affects how much of an immediate peer support network exists on arrival, which matters most in the disorienting first few weeks, without needing to be the only source of friendships later on.
Do these five questions matter more than academic ranking?
For day-to-day satisfaction, often yes. Mismatches in support, workload, or city fit are far more commonly regretted than a modest difference in academic ranking.