Best questions for high school freshman student survey about orientation experience

Here are some of the best questions for a high school freshman student survey about orientation experience, plus tips for crafting questions that spark real insights. You can build your own survey for high school students in seconds with Specific.

Best open-ended questions for high school freshman orientation surveys

Open-ended questions invite students to share their honest perspectives. They’re perfect for capturing authentic stories, unexpected moments, and feedback you might never think to ask for. Choose open-ended questions when you want rich, nuanced answers, not just quick stats.

It’s especially important here—about 68% of rising freshmen report anxiety around this transition, so students need space to express their unique experiences. [1]

1. What part of orientation helped you feel most comfortable starting high school?

2. Can you describe a moment during orientation when you felt excited or included?

3. Were there any topics or activities you wish had been covered during orientation?

4. What challenges did you face during the first week that orientation could have prepared you for better?

5. How did orientation help you connect with other students or make new friends?

6. What would you change about the orientation program for next year’s freshmen?

7. Did you feel that your questions and concerns were addressed? Why or why not?

8. How well did orientation explain school rules and expectations?

9. Who (if anyone) at orientation made you feel welcome or supported?

10. If you could give advice to future freshmen, what would you tell them about orientation?

Best single-select multiple-choice questions for high school freshman orientation surveys

Single-select multiple-choice questions are the right fit when you want easily quantifiable data. They help you see trends at a glance or kickstart deeper conversations. Sometimes students are more comfortable picking from a list—then you can follow up with a more open-ended probe.

Question: How prepared did you feel after completing freshman orientation?

• Very prepared

• Somewhat prepared

• Not very prepared

• Not at all prepared

Question: Which aspect of orientation was most helpful to you?

• School tour

• Meeting teachers

• Social activities

• Learning school rules

• Other

Question: Did you participate in a mentoring or buddy program during orientation?

• Yes

• No

• I’m not sure

When to follow up with "why?" Use a follow-up “why?” when you need the student’s thinking behind their choice. If a freshman says they didn’t feel prepared, a good prompt would be: “Can you share why you didn’t feel prepared after orientation?” Many times, this surfaces fixable gaps in the program and helps you tailor future efforts.

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Add "Other" when there’s potential for responses beyond your expected options—it lets students share unforeseen experiences. Follow-up questions after "Other" help you uncover nuances that can improve the next orientation cycle.

Should you use the NPS question for high school orientation surveys?

NPS (Net Promoter Score) asks students how likely they are to recommend their orientation experience to someone else, usually on a 0–10 scale. It’s simple, but powerful—it gives you one clear, benchmarkable metric. For high school freshman orientation, it makes sense: research shows positive orientation correlates with stronger student engagement and satisfaction, so this question neatly captures that sentiment. [2] You can use Specific to generate an NPS survey for high school freshmen in seconds. From there, tie follow-up questions to the student’s score to pinpoint what’s working or needs fixing.

The power of follow-up questions

Great insights often come from the second or third question, not just the first. That’s why automated follow-up questions, like those enabled by Specific’s AI follow-up engine, are game-changing. Instead of getting a short, vague reply, the AI asks clarifying questions instantly, just like a skilled interviewer.

• Freshman: “The orientation was okay.”

• AI follow-up: “Could you tell me what would have made orientation better for you?”

Without these probes, you get lots of “meh” answers and miss out on what would truly improve the experience.

How many followups to ask? Usually, 2–3 follow-ups strike the right balance. You want enough depth to get context, but not so much that students get fatigued. Specific lets you set these thresholds and even skip to the next topic once you get the detail you need.

This makes it a conversational survey: AI-powered follow-ups transform a survey into a real conversation, making students feel heard and engaged. That’s the heart of a conversational survey.

AI-powered response analysis: Even if students write long, detailed replies, AI tools make it a breeze to interpret and distill trends. With AI survey response analysis, you get clear, actionable insights without spending hours reading raw comments.

These automated follow-ups are a new kind of magic—try generating a conversational survey and see how quickly you unlock real stories.

How to prompt ChatGPT to generate great high school orientation survey questions

If you want to use ChatGPT (or another language model) to come up with strong survey questions, start with a direct ask. Example:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Freshman Student survey about Orientation Experience.

To improve results, always provide more background—what do you want to learn, what context do students have, what are your goals. Consider:

I’m designing a survey for high school freshmen to improve next year’s orientation. Please suggest questions that explore their feelings, challenges, and suggestions, focusing on social support, preparedness, and areas needing improvement. Format them as open-ended prompts.

Once you have a list, it helps to categorize the questions:

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

Finally, pick the areas most important to you (like “making friends” or “understanding school rules”), and prompt:

Generate 10 questions for categories: social connection, feeling prepared.

This iterative process—nudging the AI and clarifying your aims—gives you a custom-fit question set every time.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys stand apart from old-style, static forms: they feel like chat, adapt their next question based on student replies, and engage students as if they’re talking to a real person. Instead of students just ticking boxes, AI surveys prompt them for more details, clarify confusion, or nudge them to share something new.

Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? Traditional orientation surveys tend to miss the human side of the experience. Thanks to AI survey generators, like Specific’s AI survey builder, you get both quantifiable data and colorful stories, all in a few clicks. Conversation-powered surveys encourage honesty and dig far deeper than old-school forms.

If you want to see how easy this is, check out our step-by-step guide on how to create a high school freshman student orientation experience survey in minutes.

Specific stands out for conversational surveys and has the best-in-class user experience, making the whole feedback process enjoyable and easier—for both creators and students.

See this orientation experience survey example now

Start collecting honest, actionable feedback and create a high school freshman orientation conversational survey your students will actually want to finish. Experience richer insights and deeper student engagement today.