As part of your school research, you should spend some time learning about schools’ curriculum, class size, and teaching style, all of which should factor into your selection of schools. Faculty members are a good source of information on these subjects. Ask admissions staff to connect you with faculty members so you can ask them questions. Make sure that you get to talk to faculty members who will actually teach in the program to which you are applying. A school may have a Nobel laureate on the faculty, but that person may never teach in your program.

You’ll get the most out of meeting faculty members if you arrive with a set of directed questions. Here are a few suggested questions to ask.

Questions for Faculty

• What do you enjoy most about teaching at this school? What do you enjoy least?
• What kind of interaction takes place in your classes?
• How many hours during the week are you available to students outside of class? Do you have posted office hours?
• Are you active in any professional associations? Which ones? Do you consult with any particular industry or companies? Which ones?
• Are there others at your school who also do research and teach in your field of interest?

Questions about Faculty

• What is the strongest feature of faculty at this school? Academic research? Teaching quality? Accessibility to students? Prior industry experience? Something else?
• Are teaching evaluations conducted at your school? How often? Who uses them and how are they used? Are the results made available to students?
• Does the program encourage students to approach faculty outside the classroom?
• Are there teaching awards, and if so, who are the judges?