Here are some of the best questions for a high school freshman student survey about transition to high school, plus tips on what makes them effective. If you’re ready to build your own, you can generate a conversational AI survey in seconds with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for transition to high school surveys
Open-ended questions shine when you want honest, in-depth perspectives from freshman students. Unlike yes/no or scaled questions, open text helps us see rich detail—especially key for uncovering the "why" behind student experiences and surfacing struggles early. Open-ended questions are ideal when:
You want stories and examples, not just statistics
You’re exploring new issues and need to spot patterns early
Traditional data hasn’t given the “full picture” of the transition process
Here are 10 powerful open-ended questions for a high school freshman student survey focused on the transition to high school:
What has been the hardest part of starting high school for you?
Can you describe a time when you felt supported by someone (teacher, classmate, counselor) at your new school?
What are some ways your high school is different from your middle school—academically, socially, or otherwise?
Is there something you wish you had known before starting high school?
What makes you excited to come to school, if anything?
Tell us about a time you felt left out or struggled to make friends this year.
How do you feel about the workload and homework compared to middle school?
In what ways (if any) has your high school made it easier for you to get involved or find help?
What would help make the transition easier for the students next year?
What’s one thing you wish your teachers or counselors understood about what you’re going through?
These types of questions go beyond checking off a box. They build trust and surface actionable, real-world insights. Notably, research shows that school belonging drops during this transition and is linked to both academic struggles and increases in depressive symptoms [1]. Gathering these narratives early can help identify who needs support the most.
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for transition to high school
Single-select multiple-choice questions are most effective when you need to quantify experiences or identify patterns across a large group. They work for “quick signal” checks and when you want to measure shifts over time. Sometimes students aren’t sure how to explain their feelings, but a few clear options can open the door to deeper responses using targeted follow-up. Here are three examples:
Question: How confident do you feel starting your first year of high school?
Very confident
Somewhat confident
Neutral
Not very confident
Not at all confident
Question: What has been your biggest challenge so far this year?
Making friends
Academic workload
Finding extracurricular activities
Adjusting to a new schedule
Other
Question: How connected do you feel to adults at your new school?
Very connected
Somewhat connected
Not connected
When to followup with "why?" After a student selects an answer—say “Not very confident”—that’s your cue to dig deeper with "Could you share why you feel that way?" That follow-up can transform a simple choice into a candid window into their world.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? When you aren't sure you've captured every possible challenge, adding “Other” lets students surface new issues you haven’t anticipated. With smart follow-up questions, you’ll often uncover needs and stories that typical choices can’t catch. These unexpected insights can be the missing piece for a better transition program.
Should you use an NPS question for freshman transition surveys?
The Net Promoter Score (NPS) format, usually framed as “How likely are you to recommend [school] to a friend?”, is surprisingly useful—even for transition experiences. It’s concise, quantifies overall experience, and lets you check the emotional “temperature” of new students quickly. Consider this: schools with robust transition programs see dropout rates as low as 8% versus 24% for those without [2]. An NPS question can help leaders identify at-risk students and track progress over time, especially if backed by targeted follow-ups that dig into both detractors and promoters. If you want to try this, jump straight to the NPS survey builder for freshman transition.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are the game-changer, turning a rigid form into a living, conversational survey. With Specific’s AI-powered follow-ups, each response is an opportunity to ask just the right clarifying or probing question—like an expert human interviewer. This means:
You collect deeper, more actionable insights—automatically
You avoid vague or incomplete answers that leave you guessing
You save the time and hassle of back-and-forth emails just to clarify one reply
The experience feels organic for students—like someone genuinely wants to understand them, not just check a box
Dig into the details on automated follow-up questions—it’s a major step up from rigid, static surveys.
Student: "Making friends has been tough."
AI follow-up: "What makes it difficult to make friends? Is it about meeting new people, joining groups, or something else?"
How many followups to ask? Two to three follow-ups is usually the sweet spot—enough to dig for clarity without overwhelming the student. With Specific, you can set the AI to stop once you’ve heard what you need or invite more feedback. It’s smart and user-friendly.
This makes it a conversational survey—the AI’s ability to adjust and probe makes the whole process feel like a supportive conversation, not just another form.
AI-powered response analysis lets you summarize and group all the insights with ease—even when there’s lots of free-text. Don’t worry about wading through essays; our AI-driven response analysis handles it for you, surfacing clear, actionable insights.
Try generating a survey and see for yourself—automated follow-up is transforming what surveys can do.
How to write better survey questions with ChatGPT or AI
You don’t have to be a research expert to write great survey questions—just ask AI the right way. Start simple:
Prompt 1: “Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school freshman student survey about transition to high school.”
But you’ll get much better results by giving more context. For example, explain your role, your goals, or specific areas of interest:
Prompt: “You are helping a school counselor create a survey. The goal is to understand which challenges students face in their first high school year—academically, socially, and emotionally. Suggest 10 open-ended questions to uncover these experiences.”
Next, ask ChatGPT to organize. A good follow-up prompt after receiving the list:
Prompt: “Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.”
Once you see the categories, pick the ones you want to dig into most. Then:
Prompt: “Generate 10 questions for categories ‘School Belonging’ and ‘Academic Challenges.’”
This flow—broad, organize, then go deep—always produces sharper, more relevant questions.
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey feels less like a dull form and more like a thoughtful dialogue. Instead of forcing students to pick from boring lists or fill out endless grids, it adapts to what they say, asks follow-ups when needed, and even shows appreciation at the end. This method is more engaging for students—and collects richer, more nuanced feedback for you.
Traditional survey creation can be slow and clunky. AI survey generation, by contrast, lets us focus on what matters—questions and insight, not formatting and logic. Here’s a visual comparison:
Manual Surveys | AI-Generated Surveys |
|---|---|
Forms built question by question | One chat prompt creates the survey |
Static, rigid logic | Smart follow-ups adapt to responses |
Manual analysis of open text | AI distills themes & summarizes instantly |
Hard to scale or iterate quickly | Easy to update, change, or test variants |
Why use AI for high school freshman student surveys? Because the transition to high school is loaded with new anxieties, disconnectedness, and potential pitfalls. Nearly 40% of students in low-income schools drop out after ninth grade [3], and a sharp dip in school belonging is linked to worse mental health and lower academic success [1]. Specific’s conversational approach uncovers these challenges naturally and helps you intervene sooner. You don’t need to be a survey design expert; just let the AI handle question logic, follow-ups, and even response summaries.
For more on building surveys quickly, check out our guide on how to create a survey for high school freshman transition.
Specific delivers best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys, making it easier for school teams and students alike to engage and be heard. An AI survey example takes minutes to make—and feels like a real conversation for respondents.
See this transition to high school survey example now
Start gathering honest, actionable feedback from your newest students in minutes. Get clarity, reduce dropout risk, and make every freshman feel heard—see the impact of AI-powered conversational surveys with real follow-up intelligence.