Here are some of the best questions for a high school sophomore student survey about internship and job shadow interest, plus tips we use ourselves for crafting them. If you’re ready to collect actionable insights, you can generate a survey like this in seconds with Specific.
Open-ended questions for better insights from student internship surveys
Open-ended survey questions let high school sophomores honestly share their thoughts, concerns, and ambitions. This style gets you richer, more personal feedback—which means you can actually learn what drives their interest in internships or job shadowing. It’s the best way to uncover underlying motivations and unexpected barriers. Research backs this up: open-ended questions deliver deeper, more nuanced responses than closed formats [2][3]. They are perfect for exploring what matters most to students—especially when you want to go beyond numbers and understand context.
What interests you most about participating in an internship or job shadow program?
Describe any previous experiences you've had related to jobs, volunteering, or shadowing professionals.
What kinds of careers or industries are you most curious to learn more about, and why?
How do you think an internship or job shadow experience could help with your future goals?
Are there any concerns or worries you have about joining an internship or job shadow?
If you could spend a day in any job, what would it be and what would you hope to learn?
Who or what has influenced your interest in exploring internships or job shadowing?
What skills or experiences would you most like to gain from an internship or job shadow?
What barriers might make it difficult for you to participate in an internship or job shadow program?
If you could design your perfect job shadow or internship, what would it look like?
The beauty of these questions is that students can open up and share things you wouldn't have thought to ask, surfacing those all-important insights for your school or district planning. Need more context? See the full guide on creating student internship surveys.
The best single-select multiple-choice questions for high school sophomore internship surveys
Single-select multiple-choice questions shine when you want to quantify interest levels, spot trends, or break the ice. Sometimes, it’s easier (and faster) for students to pick from simple options than explain everything in their own words right away. Plus, these questions work as “door openers”—get the basics, then follow up for detail. Here are several strong examples, with choices.
Question: How interested are you in participating in an internship or job shadow program?
Very interested
Somewhat interested
Not interested
Not sure
Question: What is the main reason you would want to join an internship or job shadow?
Explore future careers
Gain skills
Build my resume
Meet new people
Other
Question: What challenges might prevent you from participating in an internship or job shadow program?
Transportation issues
Family responsibilities
Scheduling conflicts
Lack of opportunities nearby
When to follow up with "why?" The best follow-ups ask “why?” after a student chooses an option—for example, after “Not interested,” you might ask “Why aren’t you interested in internships or job shadowing?” This is often where you uncover real blockers or hidden needs that shape your program strategy.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Use “Other” when students’ reasons or barriers might be unique or complex. Adding that option lets them tell you what’s missing—valuable context you wouldn’t capture in fixed choices. When students select “Other,” always follow up to clarify what they meant. These extra details can uncover trends you weren’t expecting.
NPS-style question for student internship surveys: does it make sense?
NPS—Net Promoter Score—is usually used to see how likely someone is to recommend a program or experience. For a high school sophomore student survey on internships, you can ask: “On a scale from 0-10, how likely are you to recommend participating in an internship or job shadow program to a friend?” This helps you quickly see how appealing or valuable students find the overall idea, especially when tracked over time (try it now). Adjust your approach if scores are lower than expected.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are a game changer in student surveys. With AI, you don’t have to predict every possible direction a conversation might go. Instead, Specific’s automatic AI follow-up feature digs in on the fly—asking clarifying questions tailored to each student’s initial answer, and always in the right context (learn more here).
Student: “I’d do an internship, but maybe just if it was something I liked.”
AI follow-up: “What types of internships or job shadow areas would you find interesting?”
If you skip follow-up questions, you often get ambiguous responses and miss out on details that would actually help you make decisions. That’s why automated probing is so effective.
How many followups to ask? In general, 2–3 follow-ups are enough to gather meaningful detail without making the survey feel too long. With Specific, you can configure how many times the AI probes, or let it “move on” when the main point is captured—making conversations natural and efficient and avoiding fatigue.
This makes it a conversational survey—a survey that adapts to students’ input, feels more like a real chat, and keeps participants engaged throughout.
AI-powered survey analysis makes it simple to process even detailed open-ended responses—no manual reading or spreadsheet slog required (see how survey analysis with AI works). AI pulls themes and insights from long-form text so you always see the big picture, even with lots of feedback.
These AI-driven follow-up questions are a new approach—test them out and see how quickly you start getting deeper, more actionable information from your students. Try building your own student survey to experience the difference.
How to prompt ChatGPT to generate the best questions for student internship surveys
Want to use ChatGPT (or any AI) to help with survey design? Prompts are everything. Start simple, then refine:
Prompt to get started:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Sophomore Student survey about Internship And Job Shadow Interest.
But here's a pro tip: the more detail and context you provide, the better the results. For example, try:
I'm creating a survey for high school sophomores to discover their interest in internships and job shadow experiences. Questions should help us understand their motivations, obstacles, and what support they might need. Suggest 10 open-ended questions.
Next, prompt the AI further to organize your questions:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Once you have categories (like “Motivations,” “Barriers,” “Desired Skills”), double-click to go deeper:
Generate 10 questions for the "Barriers" and "Desired Skills" categories.
This iterative approach helps you shape super-targeted, relevant surveys for any audience.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey uses AI to create a real-time, chat-like experience rather than a rigid form. It adapts based on each student’s answers, so you get natural, detailed responses—not just boxes ticked. Specific takes this further by using GPT-based AI for both creating and launching these surveys—we handle the heavy lifting, from initial design to response analysis.
How does this compare to traditional, manual survey creation? Here’s a quick look:
Manual Survey Creation | AI-Generated Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Time-consuming, repetitive form-building for each new survey | Instant survey design—just describe your goals; AI builds the rest |
No automated follow-ups or probing | Dynamic, real-time follow-ups for in-depth understanding |
Difficult to analyze open-ended responses at scale | AI summarizes and extracts key themes from all responses |
Rigid, not personalized to each respondent | Feels like a real conversation—students stay engaged and offer more |
Why use AI for high school sophomore student surveys? AI streamlines every step: from building smart questions and automating follow-ups, to analyzing results and surfacing trends. An AI survey example not only saves time but ensures a deeper understanding of sophomore students’ real interests in internships and job shadow programs.
We’ve built Specific to deliver the best experience in conversational surveys—making feedback-gathering smooth, insightful, and engaging for both creators and students. If you’re curious about how all this fits together, check out our guide on how to create a survey for high school sophomores or see the survey generator in action.
See this internship and job shadow interest survey example now
Ready to engage high school sophomores and truly understand their interest in internships and job shadowing? See their real motivations and concerns with an AI-driven conversational survey that adapts and analyzes on the fly—no more guesswork, just clear and actionable insight.