Here are some of the best questions for a student survey about internship opportunities, along with practical tips to make your survey stronger. If you want to build a great survey in seconds, you can generate your own with Specific—it’s easy and surprisingly effective.
Best open-ended questions for student survey about internship opportunities
Open-ended questions help students articulate their views in their own words—they're perfect for uncovering unique insights and subtle perceptions you might otherwise miss. While they do tend to come with slightly higher nonresponse rates (on average, 18% for online surveys according to Pew Research Center [1]), the rich, actionable details they reveal make them highly valuable, especially when you want context or real stories from students.
What do you hope to gain from an internship opportunity?
Can you describe any challenges you've faced when searching for internships?
How have past internships impacted your academic or career goals?
What types of internships are you most interested in, and why?
How did you find out about previous internship opportunities?
What do you think makes an internship valuable for students at your stage?
Are there certain industries or roles you wish had more internship opportunities available?
In what ways could our school or career center better support students in finding internships?
What would a perfect internship look like for you?
Can you share an experience (positive or negative) you had during an internship search or placement?
It’s worth noting that while these questions allow students to provide real context, some respondents may skip them—so use them to dig deeper where it matters most, not for every topic. In our experience (and as highlighted in a PubMed study), 76% of participants add their own comments when given the option, and management finds these open responses 'very useful' for improvement initiatives [2].
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for student survey about internship opportunities
Single-select multiple-choice questions work best when you need clear, quantifiable data or want to kickstart a discussion. They also lower the effort for students, driving up completion rates—making them ideal for getting baseline stats or guiding the conversation before moving to open feedback. Sometimes it's just easier and quicker for students to pick from a few options than write out a response, especially on mobile. Later, you can use follow-up questions to get more details.
Question: How confident do you feel about finding internship opportunities relevant to your field?
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Not very confident
Not at all confident
Question: Have you previously completed an internship?
Yes, more than once
Yes, once
No
I'm currently in an internship
Question: What is your biggest challenge when applying for internships?
Lack of opportunities
Application process is unclear
Not enough support from school
Other
When to follow up with "why?" Asking “why?” is powerful when you want to open up a topic after a multiple-choice answer—especially if a student selects a negative or unexpected option. For instance, if someone chooses “Not very confident” about finding internships, a simple “Why do you feel that way?” can surface actionable insights you’d never get from the choice alone. Open-ended follow-ups bring the numbers to life and help you fix real barriers. Studies show that combining both open-ended and closed-ended questions often uncovers gaps that one type alone would miss [3].
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Include "Other" when the predefined choices might not capture everyone's experience. Letting students elaborate in their own words and adding a follow-up question can reveal unexpected challenges or innovative ideas you hadn’t considered. These responses often drive your best improvements.
NPS-style question in student internship surveys
Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for customer satisfaction—it’s a simple, effective way to measure overall student sentiment about your internship programs. NPS asks how likely students are to recommend your internship resources or support to others on a scale of 0–10. It’s easy to track over time, and the follow-up “What’s the main reason for your score?” surfaces real drivers behind advocacy and pain points. Seeing this shift can indicate whether your efforts are making a difference. Try building an NPS survey tailored to students and internships using this specialized template from Specific.
The power of follow-up questions
If you don’t ask smart, targeted follow-up questions in your surveys, you often get vague responses—missing the full story. That’s why automated AI follow-ups are a game changer. With Specific, the AI can probe deeper, in real time, just like a research expert would in a live conversation. This uncovers the context and detail you need, often saving hours you’d spend chasing answers by email.
Student: “I had trouble with the application process.”
AI follow-up: “Can you tell me more about what made the application process difficult for you?”
How many follow-ups to ask? Two or three smart, well-timed follow-ups usually do the trick. Keep it short and focused; if you’re happy with the answer, Specific's settings let you skip to the next question seamlessly so the survey doesn’t feel endless or repetitive.
This makes it a conversational survey: The dialogue flows naturally, and respondents feel heard—so it’s more like a supportive conversation, less like a cold form. You’ll see a big jump in response completeness and honesty.
AI survey response analysis, analyze student feedback: With so many open-text and detailed replies, reviewing everything can feel overwhelming. But with AI, it’s now simple to analyze responses—AI provides instant summaries and themes you can act on without reading every single answer yourself.
Automated follow-up questions are still new for most, and nothing beats trying it yourself. Generate a student internship survey and see how dynamic conversation leads to richer feedback.
How to write a great prompt for ChatGPT (or another AI) to create internship opportunity survey questions
If you want AI to help you brainstorm the best questions, craft your prompts thoughtfully. Start simple, then add context for better results:
Ask for the basics:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for student survey about internship opportunities.
Then, add more background (your goals, the educational context, or challenges you're interested in):
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for a student survey about internship opportunities at a university that wants to better connect students with real-world experience. Focus on barriers, what support is missing, and how students discover opportunities.
Ask AI to structure the questions:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Finally, pick your favorite areas to dig deeper, and ask for more:
Generate 10 questions for categories “Finding internships” and “Support from school.”
This prompt-driven process surfaces stronger, more targeted questions every time.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey is built to feel like a back-and-forth, guided interview—AI asks questions, reacts to answers, and goes deeper in real-time. This is a significant upgrade over old-school surveys, which simply list out questions and hope for honest replies. With conversational surveys, students engage more (higher completion rates), and you capture the context behind every opinion.
Manual Survey | AI-Generated Conversational Survey |
|---|---|
Static, one-size-fits-all list of questions | Personalized, dynamic conversation—AI adapts as students reply |
Rigid and time-consuming to build | Easy to create in minutes with AI |
No automatic follow-ups | AI probes with clarifying or “why” questions as needed |
Feedback analysis is slow—read everything | AI summarizes and categorizes instantly |
Harder to iterate and improve | Quick to edit with AI survey editor |
Why use AI for student surveys? AI-powered survey generation lets us tap into expert-level survey logic instantly. Surveys like this are more conversational, so students feel heard—and you get richer, more usable insights. Besides, using a conversational AI survey example is a win-win: higher participation and less manual follow-up. Explore how to create a survey with Specific for step-by-step guidance.
Specific’s conversational surveys offer a best-in-class experience for both survey creators and respondents. By making the process feel intuitive and chat-based, Specific ensures you get high-quality, honest feedback that’s easy to act on—no matter the topic or audience.
See this internship opportunities survey example now
Ready to spark honest conversations with students and get the feedback you need? See how conversational AI surveys can transform your internship opportunities research—start now to experience deeper insights in less time.