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Best questions for community college student survey about academic advising experience

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Adam Sabla

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Aug 30, 2025

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Here are some of the best questions for a community college student survey about academic advising experience, plus tips on how to ask them for deeper feedback. When you want to generate such a survey in seconds, Specific makes it effortless and engaging.

The best open-ended questions for academic advising surveys

Open-ended questions let students share real feelings, reveal challenges, and surface insights that rating scales can miss. These work best when you want to go beyond surface stats, hear unexpected stories, and truly understand the experience community college students have with academic advising.

This matters, because although advising plays a crucial role in success, many students miss out entirely—over 50% are unaware advising services exist [2]. Giving space for open feedback can highlight what’s hidden in the numbers.

  1. What was your initial impression of academic advising services at our college?

  2. Can you describe a time when an advisor helped you make a difficult decision?

  3. What expectations did you have before meeting your academic advisor—and how did reality compare?

  4. How easy or difficult was it for you to schedule an appointment with an advisor?

  5. What’s one piece of advice you would give to future students about academic advising?

  6. Were there any challenges or barriers that made it hard to access advising services?

  7. How has academic advising impacted your academic progress or career planning?

  8. What would you improve about the advising process here?

  9. Is there anything your advisor did that exceeded your expectations?

  10. What’s the most valuable thing you wish you’d known about academic advising earlier?

Using questions like these not only uncovers how students feel, but why—helping your institution spot gaps, test new ideas, or shape initiatives based on authentic student voices.

The best single-select multiple-choice questions

Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect when you want to quickly quantify student opinions or personas. These make it easier for respondents—sometimes students prefer picking a choice over typing long answers, which also helps you spot patterns faster. They also serve as conversation starters for follow-ups that dig deeper.

Question: How satisfied are you with the academic advising you’ve received?

  • Very satisfied

  • Somewhat satisfied

  • Not at all satisfied

Question: How easy was it to find information about academic advising services?

  • Very easy

  • Somewhat easy

  • Somewhat difficult

  • Very difficult

Question: What was the main reason you contacted an academic advisor?

  • Course selection

  • Graduation planning

  • Transferring to another school

  • Other

When to follow up with "why?" When a student selects a choice, a single follow-up—like "Why did you feel 'Somewhat satisfied'?"—reveals context the checkbox alone can’t. For instance, if a majority pick “Not at all satisfied,” a targeted “why” can surface whether it’s due to long wait times or unclear information, helping you act fast and precisely.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always consider adding "Other"—it makes sure you aren’t boxing students into fixed options and allows them to share experiences you may not have anticipated. The follow-up to “Other” can uncover totally new themes for future improvements.

NPS for student advising—does it make sense?

The Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a trusted measure for loyalty and satisfaction. It asks students, "On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our academic advising services to another student?" For community college advising, using NPS can put a number to feelings and let you see trends over time—even when student-advisor ratios are high (often 1,000+:1) and satisfaction varies [1][4].

Promoters are thrilled, passives are lukewarm, and detractors are unsatisfied—each group tells a different story. When you pair NPS with a conversational survey, you not only get the score, but powerful context with automated follow-ups (“What’s the main reason for your score?”). Ready to try? Generate an NPS survey for community college students in seconds.

The power of follow-up questions

One of the game-changers in survey feedback is automated follow-up questions. Rather than accept unclear or partial answers, Specific’s AI keeps the conversation going—naturally and intelligently. Check out more on how automated follow-ups work and why they’re essential for rich, actionable student feedback.

Here’s why this matters for community college students and academic advising surveys:

  • Automated AI-powered follow-ups instantly clarify ambiguous or general responses, capturing real context.

  • The process feels comfortable—like a chat, not an interrogation.

  • If you’d otherwise need to follow up by email, AI handles it in real time, saving days or weeks.

For example, here’s what can go wrong without follow-ups:

  • Student: "It was ok."

  • AI follow-up: "Thanks! Can you share a bit more on what made it just 'ok'?"

No follow-up means you never discover if "ok" is hiding frustration, confusion, or something else entirely.

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2-3 smart follow-ups uncover enough context without tiring students out. With Specific, you can set when to stop—if the main point is clear, the survey moves on, keeping pace with each student.

This makes it a conversational survey—students feel heard, responses gain depth, and participation rates improve.

AI-powered response analysis—even with long text answers, you get fast, actionable insights thanks to AI. Learn more about analyzing survey responses with AI here.

Automated, context-aware follow-up questions are still new—give creating a conversational survey a shot to feel what’s possible.

How to prompt ChatGPT for great advising survey questions

The right prompt can make all the difference. If you use ChatGPT or similar tools, start simple:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for Community College Student survey about Academic Advising Experience.

But the more context you give, the better the results. Example:

As a student affairs researcher at a large community college, I want to gather actionable insights about students’ experiences with academic advising to help our team improve equity, access, and satisfaction rates. Suggest 10 open-ended questions, and recommend follow-up questions that reveal barriers, successes, and unexpected issues.

After getting a list, you can ask:

Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.

Zero in on categories that matter most (career planning, access, first-year experience), then:

Generate 10 questions for categories: scheduling/barriers, advisor impact, awareness of services.

This approach results in focused, actionable question sets for your survey.

What is a conversational survey?

A conversational survey feels like a natural chat, not a static form. Instead of clicking through endless checkboxes, students type or tap their answers, and the AI follows up with smart, timely questions customized to their previous responses. This creates richer, more honest feedback—vital when 44% of community college students only feel “somewhat satisfied” with advising [4].

Let’s compare:

Manual survey

AI-generated conversational survey

One-size-fits-all questions

Dynamic, respondent-specific follow-ups

Manual writing and setup—time intensive

Instant creation with an AI survey builder

Shallow or ambiguous data

Contextual, deep insights from natural conversations

Low engagement—boring for students

Feels like a genuine conversation

Why use AI for community college student surveys? Because the high student-to-advisor ratio—often 1,000:1 or worse [1]—means you need a way to gather detailed feedback at scale, fast, without overwhelming your team. AI survey tools do this instantly, then help you analyze all the responses in seconds so you can focus on making things better.

With Specific, you get the best-in-class conversational survey experience. The survey creation process is simple—just chat with the AI, and update your questions anytime using the AI survey editor. For every student that completes your survey, you’ll gather actionable, high-quality data—no more boring forms. If you want a step-by-step walkthrough, check our guide to building academic advising surveys.

See this academic advising experience survey example now

Get instant, high-quality feedback from community college students—start with smart questions, unlock rich insights, and experience conversational surveys built for real academic impact. Try it and see what you’ve been missing.

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Sources

  1. Hechinger Report. Student advising plays key role in college success — just as it's being cut

  2. Innovative Educators. Advising Top 10: Just The Facts

  3. North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research. Advising Leads to Engaged Community College Students

  4. The 74 Million. 1 in 3 Community College Students Report Inadequate Advising

Adam Sabla - Image Avatar

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.

Adam Sabla

Adam Sabla is an entrepreneur with experience building startups that serve over 1M customers, including Disney, Netflix, and BBC, with a strong passion for automation.