- Why did you pursue a career as a dean?
- What’s your favorite part about working in academics?
- If you weren’t in academics, what type of career would you pursue?
- Why do you think you’re a good fit for our school?
- What’s the biggest challenge for teachers today?
Top 20 Dean of Students Interview Questions and Answers for 2022
What is your vision for our educational institution?
This is not an easy question, and you should do a good research about their place before interviewing for this job. Try to learn something about the social programs for students, extracurricular activities, exchange programs for international students, challenges they face at school–especially challenges related to a job of a Dean.
Try to think about the vision you have for their place, one you can impact from a position of a Dean. For example, you can say that you imagine a school where all students enjoy going, regardless of their race, religion, or social status.
You plan to help to build a place of equal opportunity for everyone, and you envision that students will knock on your door anytime they experience some major problem or crisis. Obviously if you identified any particular challenges while doing your research, you can point out to them in your answer, explaining how you’d address them.
Try to present a meaningful vision of a place where the entire community can thrive. Be positive, and do not hesitate to be bold in your expectations on yourself, and in your vision of their school.
How do you imagine your cooperation with student council, academic affairs, and other bodies at the college?
This really depends on the organization of responsibilities within the campus. In any case, ensure the interviewers that you want to cooperate with all bodies that represent the interests of students, and may have anything to do with your job.
You can say that you plan to have a one on one with the leader of each office on a weekly basis, or even more often, if situation requires it. Inquiring about the challenges they face and discussing any opportunities for improving the student life, your regular contact with the representatives of these offices help you to achieve your goals as a dean.
Describe the biggest challenge you faced while working as a school administrator.
In an ideal case you should pick something that relates to student life. Obviously each of us has different experiences, and each school present us with a variety of different challenges.
The key is to describe the situation in detail, using the STAR format:
