Whiteberry, I commend your questions. After observing yeshiva boys for a long time in Lakewood, and having a long conversation with a few of them recently, it seems that the answers are not always what you’d think they are. I would add a few more: Does the yeshiva provide three meals a day and shabbos seudas? (I have met bachurim who walked two miles to a seudah because the yeshiva didn’t host them, and suggested that they let the mashgiach know if they didn’t find a meal. I also constantly see bachurim hitchhiking to fast food restaurants across town, and there have been several FATAL car accidents lately involving those bachurim.) What is the shabbos schedule like? (I have met, on many occasions, bachurim at shalom zachors of complete strangers, because they had nothing else to do Friday night, and they had no other outlets during the week. What do bachurim do for fun? What is the student/faculty ratio? Are there always rebbeim/mashgichim on call? What kind of relationship do bachurim who are not the best in learning have with their rebbeim? (I spoke over yom tov with a kid in a mid-level yeshiva, not for metzuyanim, nor for druggies, who said that about half his class wasn’t there for shiur each day. The rebbeim didn’t say anything because of the prevailing fear that the boys would become rebellious, and the boys weren’t going to volunteer to come. The parents are blissfully unaware of this.)
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