Here are some questions you can ask your students to help you better understand their well-being. Adapt as you see fit.
There are suggestions for 1-1 conversations and a whole group survey.
1. How stressful is the university application preparation process for you? Rate on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being no stress at all and 10 being extremely stressful.
2. What are the challenges in the university application preparation process?
3. Which of these challenges are within your control? Which challenges are beyond your control?
4. Do the challenges resulting from university application process affect you and your daily functioning? If so, how?
5. Do you see a relationship between challenge/stress from the university application preparation process and mental health in yourself and/or your peers?
6. Do you feel like you have enough coping strategies to deal with the challenges? What are some coping strategies that have been effective? What are coping strategies that have been ineffective?
7. Who or what are your support structures? Are these sufficient? What are possible areas of improvement? (Eg. Friends, teachers, counsellor, parents)
8. Do you aim to apply to competitive universities? If yes, what is your motivation / rationale for applying to competitive universities?
9. What do you wish was different about the university application and preparation process?
10. What are the positive aspects or positive gains about the university application and preparation process, if any?
Alternatively, here are questions to put together a survey to give to your students. Administering this survey personally helped me identify the main factors that gave my students anxiety, and address them in our 1-1 meetings. I did not make it anonymous, as identifying the sources of anxiety for individual students was necessary to inform my advising. But you can adapt it as you see fit.
How anxious do you feel about the university application process?
A. Not anxious at all
B. Slightly anxious
C. Moderately anxious
D. Very anxious
E. Extremely Anxious
If you are anxious, what are the causes of your anxiety? (select all that apply)
I feel like my grades aren't / won't be high enough
I'm not sure where to start with the application
I feel like I didn't do enough activities
I feel like I don't have enough awards
I don't know how to write the college essay
I don't know where to apply to
I don't know which major/programme to apply for
I am worried about the employability of my chosen programme
I am worried about the cost-benefit ratio of the tuition invested into my education
I am worried that I won't get accepted into anywhere
I am afraid of disappointing my parents
I am afraid of disappointing my teachers
I am afraid of disappointing my friends
I am afraid of disappointing myself
I feel anxious about moving out of home
I feel anxious about adjusting to university life
Another reason
How much does the anxiety impact your daily functioning?
A: Never / I don't have anxiety
B: Rarely
C: Sometimes
D: Often
E: Always
(Short-response questions)
What are the strategies or resources you are using to cope with anxiety?
How could staff members (college counsellor, social emotional counsellor, Head of Year, homeroom teacher, teachers) at the school help with your anxiety?
Anything else you'd like to add?