Here are some of the best questions for a high school senior student survey about senior events and traditions, with tips on crafting them for real insight. If you want something ready-to-use, you can generate your own in seconds—Specific makes it effortless.
Best open-ended questions for senior events and traditions surveys
Open-ended questions are the secret to discovering what really matters to high school seniors about their end-of-year traditions. These questions help students express their personal experiences, perceptions, and wishes—surfacing candid feedback and new ideas you might never gather from just multiple choice. We recommend them at the start of a survey, or following up after a respondent selects a predefined choice, to get to the “why.”
Here are 10 open-ended questions you can use for a high school senior student survey about senior events and traditions:
What was your favorite senior event this year, and why did it stand out for you?
If you could change one tradition or event at our school, what would it be and why?
How well did this year’s senior events reflect the interests of the senior class?
Describe a moment from a senior event that felt most meaningful to you.
Were there any events or traditions you felt excluded from? Can you describe what happened?
What new traditions or events would you like future senior classes to have?
How did your expectations of senior year events compare to the reality?
Tell us about a tradition that you think should be changed or improved, and your reasons why.
What advice would you give to those planning next year’s senior events?
Is there any tradition you wish our school had (or didn’t have)? Why?
Some of the best insights into what seniors value, what’s missing, and how to improve come from these open-text answers. Open-ended survey questions like these let students articulate both the highlights and the gaps, and can reveal patterns not visible in preset answers. Given the scale and expense of senior events (with prom alone now contributing to a multi-billion-dollar industry in the US each year [2]), student feedback is more important than ever.
Best single-select multiple-choice questions for senior events and traditions
Single-select multiple-choice questions are perfect for capturing structured feedback—especially when you want results that are easy to visualize or quantify. They’re also helpful for sparking a conversation, since they let students respond quickly, then expand on their choices in follow-up questions. That’s why mixing question types leads to more complete data: you get both fast answers and richer detail.
Question: Which senior event did you most enjoy this year?
Prom
Senior Trip
Graduation Ceremony
Other
Question: How satisfied are you with the way senior traditions were organized?
Very satisfied
Somewhat satisfied
Neutral
Somewhat dissatisfied
Very dissatisfied
Question: Did you feel included in all senior events?
Yes, always
Sometimes
Rarely
No, never
When to follow up with "why?" After a student picks a multiple-choice answer—especially if it’s a critical or surprising one—it’s a great moment to ask, “Why did you feel that way?” or “Can you tell us more?” For example, if a student selects “Somewhat dissatisfied,” a follow-up like “What would have made the event better for you?” draws out clear, actionable feedback while it’s fresh on their mind.
When and why to add the "Other" choice? Always add “Other” when you’re not sure you’ve covered every possible answer in your choices. If a student selects “Other,” following up with “Which event did you mean?” can uncover new trends, niche traditions, or unexpected highlights.
NPS-type questions: worth using for senior surveys?
Net Promoter Score (NPS) isn’t just for businesses; it’s a powerful tool to gauge how likely seniors are to recommend their school’s events or traditions to others. Asking “On a scale from 0–10, how likely are you to recommend our senior events to next year’s class?” gives you a single metric to track satisfaction and improvements year over year. Plus, NPS works best when paired with a follow-up: “What’s the main reason for your score?”
If you’re looking to run a focused NPS-style survey, it’s easy to create an NPS survey for high school seniors about senior events in seconds.
The power of follow-up questions
Follow-up questions are the real game changer in student surveys. Instead of leaving responses vague and open to interpretation, smart follow-ups provide clarity, context, and richer stories. With automated followups, you don’t have to manually chase down students—AI generates targeted prompts on the spot, so each reply gets explored as deeply as needed.
High school senior: “I didn’t really like the senior trip.”
AI follow-up: “Can you tell us what you didn’t enjoy about the trip, or what would have made it more memorable?”
Without that follow-up, you’d have nothing to act on. With it, you can spot themes (logistics, venues, activities, etc.) and make next year better.
How many followups to ask? In our experience, 2–3 follow-up questions are plenty. You want to dig for insight but respect the respondent’s time—if the main purpose is addressed, you can move on. Specific’s AI makes this simple, letting you set a “stop” condition to keep things moving smoothly.
This makes it a conversational survey: Instead of a rigid form, your feedback session becomes a back-and-forth—less like an interrogation and more like a meaningful conversation.
AI-powered analysis: Even with all the unstructured comments and stories follow-ups create, it’s easy to analyze responses using AI. AI can summarize the big picture, identify recurring suggestions, and distill what seniors actually care about—without you reading every single answer.
Conversational, automated follow-up is a fresh approach—if you want to see how easy it is, try generating a survey today and watch the results come alive.
Prompting ChatGPT for better survey questions
Sometimes you want to craft your own questions—or just spark new ideas. Here’s how you might prompt ChatGPT or another AI to help:
Start with something simple:
Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school senior student survey about senior events and traditions.
To improve results, add more context. The more the AI knows about your goal, school culture, or the challenges you’re facing, the better the output. For example:
Our school is trying to make senior events more inclusive and fun for next year’s class. Suggest 10 open-ended questions for high school seniors that focus on both what they enjoyed and what could be improved, especially for students who might not always attend traditional events.
To group ideas and refine your survey with clear categories:
Look at the questions and categorize them. Output categories with the questions under them.
From there, you can choose a category like “Event Improvement” or “Inclusivity” and prompt:
Generate 10 questions for categories Event Improvement or Inclusivity.
AI works best when you steer it with good context—keep refining your prompts and see what you uncover!
What is a conversational survey?
A conversational survey isn’t just another form—it’s an interactive, chat-like feedback experience powered by AI. Unlike traditional surveys that feel one-sided and formal, AI survey generators engage students like a real conversation. They ask, listen, and adapt—delivering follow-up questions based on each student’s unique reply. This real-time, dynamic feedback loop keeps seniors engaged and dramatically boosts completion rates.
Let’s compare the process:
Manual Survey Creation | AI-generated Survey (Conversational) |
|---|---|
Brainstorm, write, and arrange questions manually | Chat with the AI survey builder to quickly craft or edit surveys |
No smart follow-ups; feedback can be unclear or incomplete | AI asks follow-ups, clarifies answers, and digs deeper automatically |
Cumbersome analysis, especially of open-ended answers | AI summarizes and analyzes responses so you spot trends instantly |
Often feels transactional and impersonal | Feels like a conversation—students are more candid and engaged |
Why use AI for high school senior student surveys? With so many schools globally turning to AI—72% projected to use AI systems for grading and feedback by 2025 [3]—AI-powered tools like Specific modernize feedback collection. You reach students where they feel most comfortable, save hours on survey creation/analysis, and unlock insights buried in open text. Plus, Specific delivers the most fluid conversational survey experience, whether you’re collecting stories, suggestions, or critiques from students.
If you want to see how easy it is to build a survey, check out our step-by-step guide to creating a senior events survey.
See this senior events and traditions survey example now
Get inspired by a survey built for deep insights and authentic student engagement—see firsthand how conversational AI surveys spark honest, useful feedback. Don’t wait—Specific makes it easy to turn student voices into actionable outcomes, fast.