PD Soros Finalist Interviews

I’d like to share my experience with the PD Soros interviews and demystify the process for fellowships in general—mostly because I grew up not having people to guide me through the college application process. I obsessively checked out books from the library on how to get into college while I was in middle school. And now I had the privilege of using MIT’s and Harvard’s well-oiled fellowship offices.

In January, I received a call telling me that I was one of the 77 finalists! (The year before, I hadn’t even made the cut.) From there, only thirty of us would be selected as fellows. All that stood between us and the fellowship were two rounds of 25-minute interviews with a panel of experts, some of whom came from our own fields. The entire experience taught me a lot about the art of selling my vision.

Preparation: Mock Interviews Galore

• Dr. Kim Benard (MIT Fellowship’s Office): Kim conducted two one-on-one interviews, pushing me with difficult questions that forced me to redirect the conversation to highlight my values and what I wanted to communicate about myself.
• Dr. Pam Gaddi (Harvard Fellowship’s Office): In our one-on-one session, the most challenging question she posed was: “What makes you someone that we should pick over other people?” I spent some time after this mock interview thinking about what made me unique.
• Ian Murray (MIT Fellowship’s Office): Ian set up a mock panel interview featuring an MIT professor, an MIT news editor, a PhD student, and other fellowship advisors. The biggest takeway from this mock interview was my struggle to articulate the connection between quantum materials and energy succinctly. I spent the weekend after this mock interview refining my pitch and working on analogies and examples.
• Friends: I also had two mock interviews with a close friend who, after reading through my application, asked insightful questions that were incredibly specific to my experiences. My partner, with a background in physics, also ran a mock interview with me and asked me more technical questions to prepare for a more scientific questioning line. In retrospect, these interviews were the most similar to the tone and line of questions in the actual interviews.

I also reached out to some PD Soros fellows for advice. The key takeaway from them was clear: figure out what you want to do in the future and why it matters—not just to experts in your field, but to people from all walks of life.

The Real Interview Questions

Some of the questions that I was asked during the real interviews included:

• What was an "aha" moment during your scientific research?
• What are some challenges in integrating quantum materials into microelectronics, given their toxicity and heavy atomic weight?
• Can you describe why transitioning into college was challenging for you?
• How do you speak to your parents about your work?
• How did you know how to navigate the college and graduate school application process since you are the first one in your family to go to high school?
• Which is more promising: fusion or quantum materials?
• Do you believe topological superconductors are possible?
• Why is science communication important?
• If you could pursue another profession, what would it be and how could you integrate its values into the profession you are actually doing?
• How is the organization you founded during undergrad for first-generation, low-income students doing?
• What role did you play in your research projects?
• And finally, what’s something you’d like to share with us that we haven’t asked?

These questions will not be the questions they ask you, but I think generally they ask questions that try to understand your motivations, life experiences, and what you plan to do in the future. Most of the people on my panels were not physicists.

Strategies That Made a Difference

Reflecting on what worked best:

• High-Stress Mock Interviews: Simulating the high-pressure environment of the actual interview helped me manage my nerves and perform better when it really counted.

• Tailored Questions from Friends: Having my friends ask questions specific to my application provided insights that I hadn’t considered before.

• Crafting a Concise Pitch: I developed a paragraph-long pitch that explained how quantum materials relate to sustainability, energy, climate change, and the ethical challenges in my field. It also outlined the specific problems I want to solve as a future professor. I didn’t memorize this but actually writing it out was incredibly helpful.

Feedback and Growth While Practicing

The biggest piece of feedback I received was the need to clearly articulate the connection between my research on quantum materials and the broader issues of sustainability, energy, and climate change. Despite feeling confident, it turned out that my explanations weren’t as clear as I thought. The mock interviewers repeatedly asked for the connection, which pushed me to hone my answers.

Another area of growth was responding to policy-related questions. Although my actual interview didn’t delve deeply into policy, the mock interviews forced me to look into relevant policies. This policy research not only enriched my responses during the real interviews but also helped me craft stronger arguments for the importance of my work.

During the mock interviews, one surprising piece of feedback was that when I talked about my science, I came off as too serious. I tended to hold back my excitement, worried about making a mistake. However, the advice was to let my enthusiasm shine through—just as it does when I talk about other topics. With practice, I learned to balance professionalism with genuine excitement about my field.

Final Thoughts

For anyone preparing for similar interviews, I highly recommend engaging in as many mock interviews as possible, seeking tailored feedback from those who know you personally, and practicing a clear, passionate pitch about how your field impacts the world.