Here are some of the best questions for a High School Senior Student survey about scholarship search experience, plus tips for creating them. We’ve seen how easy it is to build such a survey in seconds with Specific.
Best open-ended questions for scholarship search experience surveys
Open-ended questions let high school seniors express their own thoughts and stories in detail—perfect for uncovering challenges, motivations, or gaps in their scholarship search. When you want true insight (not just a quick yes/no), start here.
Can you walk us through your process for searching for scholarships? What steps did you take?
What was the most challenging part of your scholarship search and why?
Which scholarship resources or tools did you find most useful, and how did they help?
Describe a moment when you felt especially motivated or discouraged during your search.
What advice would you give to next year’s seniors beginning their scholarship search?
How did your school support you (or not) in the scholarship application process?
What types of scholarships did you focus on and why?
Were there barriers you didn’t expect while applying for scholarships? Please explain.
What’s one thing you wish you had known before starting your scholarship search?
How did you stay organized or motivated throughout the scholarship application period?
Open-ended questions are perfect when you’re seeking context, stories, or recommendations for improving the student support experience. With so many students (over 63% according to one 2024 survey) already comfortable using AI tools for assignments, open-text responses are easier to collect than ever. [1]
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for scholarship search experience
Single-select multiple-choice questions make things simple and quantifiable. Use these when you need to chart trends, compare experiences, or get a conversation started—sometimes picking from a few options is less intimidating than answering with a whole paragraph.
Question: What was the primary resource you used to find scholarship opportunities?
School counselor
Online scholarship search engines
Family or friends
Community organizations
Other
Question: How many scholarships did you apply for?
0-2
3-5
6-10
11 or more
Question: Did you receive personalized support from your school during your scholarship search?
Yes, a lot
Some support
Very little
None
When to follow up with "why?" After a respondent selects an answer that indicates a problem, confusion, or standout response, follow up! For example, if a student selects “None” to school support, follow with: “Can you describe what would have helped you most?” This deepens insight and surfaces practical needs.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” when you know the options aren’t exhaustive. Follow-up questions to this choice give students a voice and help uncover solutions you may never have imagined.
NPS question for scholarship search surveys
What’s NPS? The Net Promoter Score is a simple, powerful way to measure overall satisfaction: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend the scholarship resources you used to a friend?” As scholarships are a major pain point for families, using NPS uncovers at-a-glance satisfaction and can drive focused research. You can generate a survey with NPS built in instantly.
The power of follow-up questions
Open-ended questions get you stories. But often, it’s the smart follow-up that reveals true needs and context. Specific’s automatic AI follow-up feature turns surveys into helpful conversations that dig deeper in real time—just like a good interviewer. No more chasing students down by email or missing subtle nuance. The conversation stays focused and makes respondents feel heard.
High school senior student: “I tried to apply for local scholarships, but it was confusing.”
AI follow-up: “What specifically did you find confusing about the local scholarship process?”
How many followups to ask? In most cases, 2-3 follow-ups will get you the full story. With Specific, you can set the ideal depth and let respondents skip ahead if they’ve already answered clearly—no risk of exhausting anyone.
This makes it a conversational survey. Follow-ups happen in the flow of chat, turning surveys from an interrogation into a genuine conversation that students want to finish.
AI survey response analysis: Don’t worry about hundreds of unstructured answers. With AI-powered tools (see our guide to AI survey response analysis), you can surface top trends, highlight urgent issues, and zoom in on what matters in minutes—not days.
These automated follow-ups are transformational—try generating a survey to see just how smooth the feedback feels.
How to prompt ChatGPT for scholarship search questions
You don’t need to be an AI expert—just start with a simple prompt and build context. Here’s how we’d do it:
Try this first:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school senior student survey about scholarship search experience.
But the more you share about your audience and goals, the better the output. Example:
We’re surveying high school seniors who recently completed their scholarship applications, to discover pain points and the most effective resources. Suggest 10 valuable open-ended questions.
Next, ask ChatGPT for structure:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
Then, focus on what matters:
Generate 10 questions for categories "Scholarship Resources" and "Application Challenges".
This process, step-by-step, lets you iterate your way to great survey questions—especially when creating your survey in the Specific AI survey builder, where the editor works just like this.
What is a conversational survey?
Conversational surveys feel like a real chat—not a boring old form. With Specific, your survey acts like a smart interviewer: it asks questions, listens, probes with context-relevant follow-ups, and adapts to each answer. It’s especially powerful when you want genuine, high-quality insights without burdening students with a static, repetitive experience.
Let’s see how AI survey generation compares to the traditional “manual” survey-building grind:
Manual Survey | AI-Generated Survey |
|---|---|
Design each question, logic & follow-ups from scratch | Quickly generate complete surveys with AI, including smart follow-ups |
Risk missing key details or sticking to a rigid script | Conversational, dynamic probing based on responses |
Time-consuming analysis (especially for open-ended) | AI summarizes, categorizes, and helps you chat with results instantly |
Often boring or tedious for respondents | Feels like a natural conversation, boosting quality and completion |
Why use AI for high school senior student surveys? High school seniors already use AI-powered tools: in 2024, 63% reported using AI for assignments, and these numbers are expected to climb. [1] AI survey examples—especially conversational ones—meet students where they are, in formats they enjoy.
Specific offers the best-in-class user experience for conversational surveys, making feedback smooth and even enjoyable for both the survey builder and the respondent. For a full walk-through, check our guide on how to create a high school senior student survey about scholarship search experience.
See this scholarship search experience survey example now
Create an AI-powered conversational survey to reach high school seniors and discover the honest story behind their scholarship journeys—complete with automatic follow-ups and instant insight analysis. Don’t miss out on richer, actionable feedback.