- Joined
- Sep 23, 2007
- Messages
- 1,863
- Reaction score
- 31
Full disclaimer - I was nothing close to what is nowadays considered a gunner while in undergrad. But I feel that I should become one in med school in order to increase my chances of matching into a competitive specialty. I am not in medical school yet (I changed my status as a joke to make the superanal people on here mad). These thoughts are primarily based on some conversations I had with several friends currently attending medical schools around the country as well as some recent experiences I had in dealing with some rising M2's at my own institution:
Back in the day a gunner used to be someone who was objectively a d-bag and who's actions borderlined on academic dishonesty: ripping important pages out of books at the library, checking out such books for an inordinate amount of time to cockblock other classmates from reading them, showing up other classmates
in front of attendings, secretly getting copies of old tests against the honor code, etc.
But I feel like that's changed in the information age as it's harder to prevent other people from getting their hands on study resources/old tests/ qbanks coupled
with a general growing dislike of people who step over others to get success. Shortly put - the thriving gunner of the past is an endangered species today.
But the word "gunner" has not died off. Nowadays, a gunner is simply defined as someone who is extremely ambitious, plans way ahead, and studies better both in volume (quantity) and in efficiency (quality) than his or her classmates. But for some reason such behavior is still derided by peers as an undesirable character trait. Previewing next block's material right after last block's exam? Gunner. Studying on Friday and Saturday nights instead of drinking and partying? Gunner. Cross referencing stuff learned in class first year with First Aid and GunnerTraining? Yep...Gunner.
So do we dislike gunners these days, not because they are sabotaging us like their predecessors did before, but simply because we don't like the idea of someone outworking and out-achieving us? Instead of sacrificing like the gunner, do we instead deride the overly ambitious, extremely hardworking, and super organized individual in hopes that our collective teasing will make them let up a little and become more like us in order to even the playing field*
*In medical science it seems like it's all about foresight and quality time spent on the material, unless of course one has an exceptional innate memory and can remember close to everything on the first pass. This is unlike undergrad where one's natural intellect and problem solving skills were a large determinor of success. For example in my physics class, lazy genius stoners would ace all the tests while dimwitted but hard working "gunner" premeds would get mediocre grades. Since the level of
critical thinking and problem solving is not as high in medical school (it's the vast amount of information that usually does people in) I can easily see the tables being turned and the dimwitted but hard working person succeeding while the lazy, intelligent person falling short.
Back in the day a gunner used to be someone who was objectively a d-bag and who's actions borderlined on academic dishonesty: ripping important pages out of books at the library, checking out such books for an inordinate amount of time to cockblock other classmates from reading them, showing up other classmates
in front of attendings, secretly getting copies of old tests against the honor code, etc.
But I feel like that's changed in the information age as it's harder to prevent other people from getting their hands on study resources/old tests/ qbanks coupled
with a general growing dislike of people who step over others to get success. Shortly put - the thriving gunner of the past is an endangered species today.
But the word "gunner" has not died off. Nowadays, a gunner is simply defined as someone who is extremely ambitious, plans way ahead, and studies better both in volume (quantity) and in efficiency (quality) than his or her classmates. But for some reason such behavior is still derided by peers as an undesirable character trait. Previewing next block's material right after last block's exam? Gunner. Studying on Friday and Saturday nights instead of drinking and partying? Gunner. Cross referencing stuff learned in class first year with First Aid and GunnerTraining? Yep...Gunner.
So do we dislike gunners these days, not because they are sabotaging us like their predecessors did before, but simply because we don't like the idea of someone outworking and out-achieving us? Instead of sacrificing like the gunner, do we instead deride the overly ambitious, extremely hardworking, and super organized individual in hopes that our collective teasing will make them let up a little and become more like us in order to even the playing field*
*In medical science it seems like it's all about foresight and quality time spent on the material, unless of course one has an exceptional innate memory and can remember close to everything on the first pass. This is unlike undergrad where one's natural intellect and problem solving skills were a large determinor of success. For example in my physics class, lazy genius stoners would ace all the tests while dimwitted but hard working "gunner" premeds would get mediocre grades. Since the level of
critical thinking and problem solving is not as high in medical school (it's the vast amount of information that usually does people in) I can easily see the tables being turned and the dimwitted but hard working person succeeding while the lazy, intelligent person falling short.