Residency interview answer guide
The best and worst attending you worked with: a residency interview answer guide
The AAMC applicant list includes a question about the best or worst attending you worked with. Discuss teaching and professional behaviors, not a named person's character. Explain what you learned and how it affects your own work.
How to approach it
- 1
Define the behavior you valued
Choose a specific action: making reasoning visible, giving useful feedback or inviting appropriate questions. Describe how it helped you learn. Praise that could fit any doctor tells the interviewer little about your experience.
- 2
Handle the negative example fairly
If asked for a difficult attending, describe a learning challenge without naming or insulting them. Separate what you observed from assumed motives. A mismatch in teaching style is different from a safety or professionalism concern; do not collapse them into one complaint.
- 3
Return to your response
Explain how you sought clarification, adapted or involved appropriate support. Finish with a habit you want to carry into residency. You are discussing your learning, not giving an unofficial performance review of another clinician.
A fill-in outline, not a script
An attending I learned from [specific teaching behavior]. It helped me [learning]. A harder experience involved [neutral behavior or challenge]. I responded by [action within role]. That taught me to [habit I now use].
This is an illustrative outline. Replace every bracket with something true from your own experience. The AAMC advises applicants to prepare rather than rehearse, so you can answer the question you are actually asked.
What advisers and program directors say
The AAMC explicitly lists describing the best or worst attending among applicant questions. Its preparation chapter advises reflection on learning and what you would do differently.
The AMA's program-director guidance emphasizes kindness, empathy and professionalism in every interaction. A respectful account can still explain a real difficulty.
Mistakes to avoid
- Naming an attending to complain about them.
- Praising charisma without an example.
- Assuming an intention from one interaction.
- Avoiding your own response entirely.
Check your answer
- What did you do when the teaching approach did not work?
- Is your contribution clear without claiming another person's work?
- Are the example and outcome true and safe to discuss?
Follow-up questions to expect
- What did you do when the teaching approach did not work?
- What would you copy as a future teacher?
- How did you check your interpretation?
Common questions
Must I discuss both examples?
Answer the wording you receive. If asked only for the best attending, do not volunteer a negative story just because you prepared both.
Can I describe a serious concern?
Only responsibly and without confidential details. Explain your role and the real support process. Do not present an interview as a substitute for raising a concern through the proper route.
What if I cannot identify a worst attending?
Say you do not think that label is useful and offer a genuine challenging learning experience if appropriate. Do not invent one.
Related guides
Sources
- AAMC, Questions Frequently Asked of Applicants During Interviews
- AAMC, Preparing for Your Interview(s)
- AMA, A program director's do's and don'ts for residency interviews (Dec 2024)
This page is general editorial guidance based on the sources above. It is not a prediction of any program's questions or a statement of its current policies.