Best questions for high school freshman student survey about extracurricular participation

Here are some of the best questions for a high school freshman student survey about extracurricular participation, plus tips for designing a survey that uncovers the most useful insights. You can instantly build your own survey with Specific in seconds.

The best open-ended questions for high school freshman student survey about extracurricular participation

Open-ended questions allow students to express themselves in detail, revealing context, motivations, and barriers that structured questions often miss. They work best when you want honest, nuanced answers rather than just data points. Use them to uncover individual stories and surprising patterns about how students engage with extracurriculars.

1. What activities outside of regular classes are you currently involved in at school?

2. Why did you choose to join (or not join) extracurricular activities this year?

3. What do you enjoy most about participating in extracurricular activities?

4. Can you describe any challenges you've faced in joining or staying involved in extracurriculars?

5. How do you think extracurricular participation affects your experience as a freshman?

6. Who or what influenced your decision to join (or not join) certain activities?

7. What new clubs, teams, or activities would you like to see offered at your school?

8. How do extracurricular activities fit with your other responsibilities (school, family, etc.)?

9. In what ways has being involved (or not being involved) impacted your friendships or social life?

10. What advice would you give to incoming freshmen about extracurricular participation?

Open-ended questions create space for voices often missed in one-size-fits-all surveys—a must for understanding the full spectrum of student experience. Over 70% of high schoolers get involved with at least one activity, but the "why" and "how" behind that number are where real insight lives. [2]

Best multiple-choice questions for high school freshman student survey about extracurricular participation

Single-select multiple-choice questions are ideal when you want quantifiable data or need a quick temperature check before probing deeper. They work especially well to start a conversation or streamline the survey for students who may feel overwhelmed by too much open text. Often, picking from a curated list is less intimidating than coming up with an answer from scratch—then a good follow-up unlocks the full story.

Question: Which type of extracurricular activity do you participate in most?

• Sports teams

• Arts or music groups

• Academic clubs

• Student government

• Community service/volunteering

• Other

• I do not participate in any activities

Question: What is the main reason you participate in extracurricular activities?

• To make new friends

• To strengthen my college applications

• For fun/enjoyment

• Because my family encouraged me

• To learn new skills

• Other

Question: What prevents you from joining extracurricular activities?

• Lack of time

• Transportation issues

• Cost or fees

• Activities not of interest

• Family responsibilities

• Other

• I already participate

When to follow up with "why?" Whenever you want to dig beyond the surface—say a student chooses "family responsibilities" as a barrier, ask "Can you share more about how your responsibilities affect your ability to join these activities?" These follow-ups spark richer understanding, helping you address the real root of participation disparities. Participation still varies greatly by socioeconomic status: lower-income students often report more barriers. [3]

When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always include "Other" when your list may not cover every scenario. It invites students to share unique situations you hadn't considered—they might reveal new opportunities or obstacles your school needs to know about. Encourage follow-up questions to get clarity on these responses; this is where unexpected insights often surface.

The NPS question: Should you use one for high school freshman student extracurricular surveys?

Net Promoter Score (NPS) asks, "How likely are you to recommend X to a friend?" and is a popular tool for measuring overall satisfaction and loyalty. For high school freshmen, an NPS question like "How likely are you to recommend participating in extracurricular activities at our school to another freshman?" can help gauge students' general feelings about these programs, identify promoters, and quickly flag pain points. Try this NPS survey for freshman extracurriculars for an easy starting point.

Since participation in school activities correlates with better academic performance and graduation rates (students in extracurriculars are 20% more likely to finish high school [1]), tracking freshman sentiment with an NPS-type question can spotlight broader impacts for administration and educators while also creating an opening for follow-up on low scores.

The power of follow-up questions

Automated AI follow-up questions turn your survey into a genuine conversation, helping you probe for specifics and clarify when students give only partial or ambiguous answers. At Specific, our platform uses AI to ask these smart, context-aware follow-ups live—just like a sharp interviewer—leading to richer feedback and higher completion rates. It saves survey creators hours that might otherwise be spent emailing back and forth or scheduling interviews, without sacrificing the conversational feel students appreciate.

• Student: "I think activities aren’t really for me."

• AI follow-up: "Can you share what makes you feel that way? Is it about the activity choices, your schedule, or something else?"

• Student: "I joined the art club but didn't go back after the first meeting."

• AI follow-up: "What happened at that first meeting that made you decide not to return?"

How many follow-ups to ask? Two to three well-timed follow-ups are usually enough to get the full context, while keeping things conversational and not overwhelming. In Specific, you can control the follow-up depth or let the AI stop once it’s gathered the needed information—no need to badger students unnecessarily.

This makes it a conversational survey: Each follow-up is naturally tailored, turning the survey from a static form into an engaging exchange students are more likely to finish—and finish well.

AI-powered analysis, automated summaries, quick search: Even with all the rich unstructured responses, Specific makes analyzing your data a breeze using AI. Explore more about how to analyze survey answers right from your dashboard.

These real-time, AI-generated follow-ups are a whole new way of collecting insights—try generating a survey yourself to see how fluid and natural the experience feels.

Prompting GPT for survey questions: How to compose prompts

If you’d rather craft questions yourself, you can use GPT models (like ChatGPT) to generate great content—provided you prompt them well.

Start simple:

Suggest 10 open-ended questions for High School Freshman Student survey about Extracurricular Participation.

Add more context for better results. For example, share your role, goals, and any special needs:

I am designing a survey for high school freshmen to understand what drives or prevents their extracurricular involvement, specifically looking to improve program accessibility for underserved students. Suggest 10 in-depth, open-ended questions.

Next, ask the AI to organize outputs:

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

Finally, dig deeper into the most relevant area:

Generate 10 questions focusing on "Barriers to participation" and "Motivations for joining activities".

This approach saves huge amounts of mental energy compared to starting from scratch. Specific’s AI survey tool automates this entire workflow for you.

What is a conversational survey?

Conversational surveys feel like an actual chat, not a cold form. They blend open and closed questions with real-time AI follow-ups that ask for clarification or examples on the spot. This format is simply more natural for high school students who are used to texting and messaging.

Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? AI survey generators—like Specific—save time, boost engagement, and collect higher-quality data than a static form ever could. They're especially well suited to complex topics like extracurricular participation, where every student's story counts. See our guide on how to create a survey for high school freshmen about extracurricular participation.

With best-in-class user experience, Specific ensures both creators and respondents have a smooth journey—just select a prompt and start getting actionable, conversational feedback immediately.

See this extracurricular participation survey example now

Create your own AI-powered, conversational survey for freshman extracurricular participation and quickly uncover what motivates, motivates, or hinders students—while getting richer, more complete feedback, instantly.