By Jeremy Tiers, Vice President of Admissions Services
1 minute read
Throughout the college search process, students like to offer up a lot of non-specific generalities. Your school is one of their “top” choices, and cost will be a “big part” of their decision. What does that mean, exactly?
My advice to admissions counselors is to always be prepared to ask one or more follow-up questions as a way to keep the conversation going and to gain more context and definition from the student – or their parent/guardian.
Follow-up questions are not intrusive. Instead they demonstrate that you’re listening, you care, and you’d like to better understand the why, when, how, or what behind a statement.
Here are a few follow-up questions that work well in numerous situations regardless of what the original question was:
- Help me understand why you feel that way
- Tell me more about that
- That’s interesting, can you expand on that
- Why is that important to you?
- Why do you think that is?
- Help me understand all that a little bit better
Another follow-up strategy to consider involves telling the other person what you think they might be saying. Using the earlier example of cost, you might follow-up with, “It seems like you’re saying that you’d be okay choosing a college that was less expensive even if it wasn’t the best overall fit. Is that right?”
Framing your follow-up question that way will prompt the student to either agree or disagree with you, and many are likely to feel they need to offer you an explanation as well.
Asking the right kinds of direct questions and follow-up questions is an important skill that needs to be cultivated and consistently put into practice. Doing it will open the door and gave the other person ‘permission’ to go deeper. Without that sequence, most students in particular are going to hold back and not reveal the things you want them to… which means you don’t get the good information you need to make a strategic decision on what you should do next.
If you found this article helpful, please forward it to someone else on your campus who could also benefit from reading it.