US PhD interview practice
Show your PhD interviewers the researcher behind the resume.
Explain your contribution and why this lab. Rehearse faculty-style questions with an AI interviewer and make your research easy to follow.
For US PhD applicants preparing for interview weekends and faculty calls.
- Voice only, no camera
- Reads your resume and the lab page
- Every day, up to two hours
$12.99 a week or $29.99 a month. Cancel anytime in Settings.
“What was your specific contribution to that project?”
- Subject and research knowledge
- Explaining your work
- Academic reasoning
- Supervision and collaboration
“I was describing what the lab did, rather than what I did. The follow-ups helped me explain my own contribution without overstating it.”
Questions you’ll practice
Common phrasings of what this interview asks, and what each one tests. An AI faculty interviewer works from your own application, so expect follow-ups on what you say.
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“What was your specific contribution to that project?”
Tests: your work versus the team’s
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“Walk me through your research experience.”
Tests: clarity about what you actually did
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“Explain your research to me as if I’m outside your field.”
Tests: clarity without the jargon
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“What research questions do you want to pursue here?”
Tests: focused interests that fit the program
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“Whose lab interests you, and why?”
Tests: reasons drawn from the lab’s own work
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“Tell me about a time an experiment failed.”
Tests: troubleshooting and resilience
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“What do you look for in a mentor?”
Tests: self-awareness about how you work
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“How do you juggle competing priorities in a lab?”
Tests: collaboration and time management
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“Where do you see yourself after the PhD?”
Tests: realistic career thinking
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“What questions do you have for me?”
Tests: genuine curiosity about the lab
Setup takes about two minutes.
Know what to change before the real interview
See where your answer lost its point, what was missing and what to try next. Your own words, with feedback on each question and scores across four skills.
Good science, but your own part got lost in the lab’s.
“So we, um, we basically ran the assays and then we found that…”
Say “I” for what you did. Name one decision that was yours.
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“What was your specific contribution to that project?”
The team’s result came first. Lead with the part you designed or ran.
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“Whose lab interests you, and why?”
A name and a real reason from the lab page. Add how your skills fit it.
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“Tell me about a time an experiment failed.”
Clear on what broke. The follow-up asked what you changed: answer that sooner.
Illustrative example. Your scores will differ.
“My why-this-lab answer was mostly admiration. Practicing made me connect their research to the questions I actually wanted to pursue.”
One question, and what a strong answer does
An example of the kind of question you’ll be asked, and what the feedback looks for.
“Tell me about a result in your undergraduate research that surprised you.”
Follow-up: “How did you decide whether it was real or an artifact?”
What a strong answer does
- Picks one concrete result and explains it in plain terms before the jargon.
- Says what was expected and why the result did not fit.
- Walks through the checks that were run, in order, and what each one ruled out.
- Ends with what it taught you about designing the next experiment.
What it costs
Spoken interview sessions on either plan, up to two hours of interviews a day.
Spoken interview sessions, up to two hours of interviews a day
A week of focused preparation when your interview is just days away.
Need more than a week? Two weekly payments total $25.98. From three weeks on, the monthly plan costs less.
Cancel anytime in Settings, with no cancellation fee. You keep access until the end of the period you paid for.
Before you ask
Is an AI good enough for a faculty interview?
For the reps, yes. It asks, listens and follows up on what you actually said, up to two hours a day, at 2 a.m. or the night before. Then it scores four skills and quotes your own words back, so you know exactly which answer to fix.
Will it make things up about the lab?
No. Paste the program or lab page and it asks why there, from what the page says. It never cites a paper, grant or result that is not on that page.
Voice only?
Yes, no camera. You practice saying it, which is the part that goes wrong. It does not grade body language or a research talk.
How fast can I start?
Setup takes about two minutes and needs no account. You choose a plan before your first interview, and then you get up to two hours of interviews a day.
How it works
Set up in about two minutes, then interview out loud and see your scores.
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Add your resume, statement and the program
Upload your resume, paste your statement of purpose, then paste the program or lab page. All optional, and setup takes about two minutes.
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Interview out loud
Pick 10, 15 or 20 minutes. One AI faculty interviewer asks, listens and follows up on what you actually said.
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Get scored on four skills
Research knowledge, explaining your work, academic reasoning and collaboration, each scored, with feedback question by question.
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Go again before the next program
Swap in the next program’s page and practice the conversation that faculty will want to have.
The night before
The same evening, two ways.
Without rehearsing
- You can describe the project. You’ve never said out loud what you did in it.
- “Whose lab interests you?” still gets a list of names and no reasons.
- You don’t know which part of your research story runs long.
After practicing out loud
- You can say your own contribution in a sentence, then back it up.
- You name a lab and the work on its page that drew you there.
- Your research story is short enough to leave room for questions.
Good to know
15 minutes by default
Choose 10, 15 or 20 minutes; we suggest 20. An interview weekend has several conversations like this one.
Voice only
Voice only: no camera and no video. Your spoken answers are transcribed so they can be scored.
Your interviewer’s accent
Your interviewer speaks with an American accent. You can change it in Settings.
Practice before each interview weekend or faculty call.
Questions
What to know before you start practicing.
Is the interviewer a real person?
Does it use my camera or record video?
Can I practice for a specific program or lab?
How long is a session?
What does it cost?
My interview weekend is in a few days. Is it worth starting now?
What doesn’t it cover?
Related interview practice
Updated on
Interview weekend is a string of conversations about your research. Rehearse them this week.