The interval between fourth-year residency applications and the first day of orientation the following July is a well-documented nemesis for most medical students. The demands of preparing applications, the time investment in the interview process, and the typical period of decompression and leisure following Match Day result in an extended period of disuse of—and concomitant massive decline in—the medical knowledge and clinical reasoning skills they built up with so much …

Walking up to the admissions desk I knew the routine. I stretched out my arm for my hospital band. A …