Biggest gunner you've personally met?

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ichor

ichor

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I'm interested in all of your stories and anecdotes, whether they're funny, scary, weird, inspiring, whatever!

For reference:
A person who is competitive,overly-ambitious and substantially exceeds minimum requirements. A gunner will compromise his/her peer relationships and/or reputation among peers in order to obtain recognition and praise from his/her superiors.
Click to expand...

In addition, I think being a gunner might include being really secretive about their stats, and trying to get the low down of others at the same time to size up competition, etc.
 
I don't mean to brag, but I would be the biggest gunner you will meet. Literally. lol nah I'm not a gunner nor will I ever will be. :horns:
 
I go to a state school with a very large premed population, and practically everyone is a gunner in one way or another. Intro lectures? Hands flying up all the time with students asking stupid questions in order to be seen. Office hours? Packed from day one. Volunteering? Huuuuuuge wait lists all over the city. Research? "Wait, you're a sophomore and you haven't started yet?" Honest to God, I am not exaggerating. I'm a peer mentor in our research office and a freshman girl came in today, literally in tears, because she hadn't met her goal of getting into a lab before winter break and she thought she was behind.

I want to get one of those blimp things and have a banner that flies around campus for a day and says "PREMEDS: CHILL THE F*** OUT"
 
I had a guy in an upper div bio class who would comment after EVERYTHING the professor said. At some point in the middle of lecture, the professor actually told him his enthusiasm was appreciated but his need to contribute nothing so often was unnecessary. The class applauded.
 
Two weeks before my MCAT, I was walking home with a girl from my research lab and told her I was feeling nervous about the test. She said she was planning to take it in the future and wanted some tips.
Me: "When are you planning to take it? Have you gotten any study material?"
Her: "Oh, I haven't studied at all. I am planning to take it next year."
Me: "Ok, you got time" and then I gave her some MCAT book recommendations and referred her to MCAT plans on SDN.

Guess who do I saw when I stepped into my test center? Yup, that girl.

Me: "Um.. you are taking the test?" 😱
Her: "Yeah, I saw a spot open and just signed up."

:eyebrow:

(The older brother of the girl is also pre-med. There is NO WAY that she showed up to the test day without weeks of prep.)

To this day, I can not figure out why she felt to need to lie...:shrug:
 
I know there are some cultures where it's not seen as a good thing to brag (oh I got an A, oh I got a 35+, etc etc) - so lying about stats doesn't necessarily make someone a gunner. I mean hey, we even have our "knock on wood" thing in the U.S/Europe.

plumhill said:
I go to a state school with a very large premed population, and practically everyone is a gunner in one way or another. Intro lectures? Hands flying up all the time with students asking stupid questions in order to be seen. Office hours? Packed from day one. Volunteering? Huuuuuuge wait lists all over the city. Research? "Wait, you're a sophomore and you haven't started yet?" Honest to God, I am not exaggerating. I'm a peer mentor in our research office and a freshman girl came in today, literally in tears, because she hadn't met her goal of getting into a lab before winter break and she thought she was behind.

I want to get one of those blimp things and have a banner that flies around campus for a day and says "PREMEDS: CHILL THE F*** OUT"
Click to expand...

Do you go to school in California? Most of socal is like that.
 
At the start of one of my rotations, one of my classmates apparently told one of my buddies that he was "going to do everything you do except better" because he had "to beat him."
 
We had a group of gunners that were known as the Front Row Crew. Front row, every science class I took for four years. Nothing wrong with front row, I dig it in some classes myself, but these kids were just bizzare, having all the typical characteristics of "gunners" except they made it into a clique with a NICKNAME.
 
I just started an extra research gig one day of the week. There are 2 other students on the project, one girl and one guy that never even shows up.

Last week, she got fed up with the other guy for never responding to her emails and never doing any work so she tried to force me to go complain about him to our PI with her. I refused and told her we should mind our own business and focus on ourselves, if he does no work he'll get no credit simple as that.

Additionally, I mentioned he might have other obligations and also mentioned how slammed I am this semester having just taken my MCAT, 19 credits, another research project, and volunteering. She agrees to drop it...

Then during our weekly report she throws the other guy under the bus immediately then proceeds to tell our PI that I'm not taking the project seriously because I have other important stuff going on and that she needs more committed people to help. All I could do was..
ibhPZppbrc24O5.gif
 
In my UG there was a hit and run between lab partners. It was on the news and everything. Supposedly the girl who did the hit saw the victim walking across the parking lot late at night and just snapped, deciding then and there "**** it, I'm gonna hit this bitch". It was all caught on camera. The news mentioned that the girl was premed and was under tremendous stress to get straight A's to satisfy her parents.
 
We totally had someone who would so ask those questions that are either wayyyy left field or so ridiculously understandable that it was clear they were just trying to get attention. But then any time someone would ask a legitimate question, this person would seriously make an actual comment on how stupid the question was and how obvious it was etc. (basically throwing people under the bus and belittling them)

One day my professor (who has the patience of a saint and is just an all around great guy) said "I'm not going to tell you to shut up, but I am going to put you in time out for a bit" It was freaking hilarious
 
ichor said:
I'm interested in all of your stories and anecdotes, whether they're funny, scary, weird, inspiring, whatever!

In addition, I think being a gunner might include being really secretive about their stats, and trying to get the low down of others at the same time to size up competition, etc.
Click to expand...

Almost all premeds I know try to find out about the competition. I suppose it's a facet of human nature.

The worst gunners I know are two-faced (fake people) about it, try to get you to help them while also bad-mouthing you to others.
The ones who ask a ton of questions in class I consider mostly harmless though they can be annoying.
The creepiest ones I've met in class sit within a 2 seat radius of me and change their seats when I change mine. Ideally sitting behind me in a lecture hall with graduated raised seats. I'd look over and they'd be watching what I was doing, writing, etc.
The most direct gunner stuff I've met was with lab partners who would try to hide data.
The absolute worst gunner stuff I experienced was from a lab partner who thought she had a higher grade than me and tried to take a hit on the last assignment thinking our lowered grades would push me down to a B while allowing her to keep her A.


Of these 10 or so people, maybe 2-3 have made it to med school, 2-3 have yet to apply, the rest have either failed out or have gone through multiple app cycles. I imagine they spend a long time honing their "gunning" skills so that by the time they make it to med school, they are the worst of the bunch.


As a non-trad, watching trads become more sophisticated in this as they get older or into upper level courses is heartbreaking.
 
My junior year of college, there was this girl Stephanie in my dorm.
Stephanie was the absolute worst.
I was a transfer from community college, so I had not yet experienced the whole "competitive gunner" sub-culture of a 4 year college.
I was doing pretty well in one of our classes, and this girl asked me for my help with some stuff. Thinking it would be a nice thing to do, maybe make some friends since I didn't know anyone, I agreed to help her.
Maybe a few weeks later, for the next exam, there were some things I wasn't so sure of, so I asked if she wouldn't mind helping me out.
I was met with a slew of "my time is way more important" and "I don't have time, figure it out on your own."
She was accepted to 17 medical schools, most in the top 25.
 
first day of organic chem 1: I get there early to get a decent seat since everybody rushes in on the first day of class. Sit next to this guy who is bragging to his friends that he learned a lot of organic in high school, and how he probably won't have to study for the first exam. Hear him talk about it for almost ten minutes.

After class, I hear him complain to someone that we covered more than he knew and that he was already kind of lost, since all he learned in high school was how to draw molecules and basic nomenclature.

HAH.
 
I go to a smaller school without a strong premed community, but there's a kid who is a premed and very involved in Student Council. This kid mentions his 4.0 gpa almost weekly and in the pre-class time for any class talks about how all of his classes are so easy and how he takes 22+ hours per semester and about his research activities. The guy is in so may groups that his email signature is 15 lines long (literally) and he likes to say that "those are only the important positions--I'm in many other organizations". He also likes to call everything a "meeting," so if he eats lunch with friends he'll come into his 1pm class talking about the "meeting" he was just in. Also loves to talk about the "pull" he has in StuCo to "make things happen," and he (in the past week) has apparently somehow gotten an assistant (which he loves to mention... "I'll see what I can make happen in StuCo about your problem, and have my assistant update you.")

He's been accepted to a top 10 medical school, though. Makes me sad.
 
HeadEast2014 said:
I go to a smaller school without a strong premed community, but there's a kid who is a premed and very involved in Student Council. This kid mentions his 4.0 gpa almost weekly and in the pre-class time for any class talks about how all of his classes are so easy and how he takes 22+ hours per semester and about his research activities. The guy is in so may groups that his email signature is 15 lines long (literally) and he likes to say that "those are only the important positions--I'm in many other organizations". He also likes to call everything a "meeting," so if he eats lunch with friends he'll come into his 1pm class talking about the "meeting" he was just in. Also loves to talk about the "pull" he has in StuCo to "make things happen," and he (in the past week) has apparently somehow gotten an assistant (which he loves to mention... "I'll see what I can make happen in StuCo about your problem, and have my assistant update you.")

He's been accepted to a top 10 medical school, though. Makes me sad.
Click to expand...

Good god....
 
baconshrimps said:
She was accepted to 17 medical schools, most in the top 25.
Click to expand...
Still a tw*t.

In Calc I we had this freshman girl who was constantly whining (loudly) about how she didn't need the class: "I made a 1550 on my SAT. This crap is so easy."& "I'm really smart." ...<=== that's it. That's all there was to that statement😵 & "I have like a 105 in this class"&"Med schools will beg to accept me." And other variation thereof. She continued for about 3 weeks until the one girl in the back who never says anything goes, "Will you just shut up?!". Guess, what. She didn't stop. The professor had to threaten to right her up for disruption before she finally dropped the act. She brooded until the end of the semester.
 
BrainsIsCool said:
Still a tw*t.
Click to expand...

Yes, that was the spirit of what I am saying.
Hey guess what? I'm going to one of my top choice MD schools next year. I never had to act like a d*ck to anyone to reach my goal.
It actually worries me, that people like Stephanie are able to feign compassion and kindess and get through the sieve of the application process.
It worries me further, that people like Stephanie will probably become physicians. She has the technoscientific prowess, I will give her that, but noone likes working with a jerk.
 
HeadEast2014 said:
I go to a smaller school without a strong premed community, but there's a kid who is a premed and very involved in Student Council. This kid mentions his 4.0 gpa almost weekly and in the pre-class time for any class talks about how all of his classes are so easy and how he takes 22+ hours per semester and about his research activities. The guy is in so may groups that his email signature is 15 lines long (literally) and he likes to say that "those are only the important positions--I'm in many other organizations". He also likes to call everything a "meeting," so if he eats lunch with friends he'll come into his 1pm class talking about the "meeting" he was just in. Also loves to talk about the "pull" he has in StuCo to "make things happen," and he (in the past week) has apparently somehow gotten an assistant (which he loves to mention... "I'll see what I can make happen in StuCo about your problem, and have my assistant update you.")

He's been accepted to a top 10 medical school, though. Makes me sad.
Click to expand...
minigun-o.gif


How is he going to be a competent physician when he's such a weird arse? Pure research, maybe?
 
BrainsIsCool said:
minigun-o.gif


How is he going to be a competent physician when he's such a weird arse? Pure research, maybe?
Click to expand...


He would probably reply: "Well, I'll see how I can address your concern in [insert top hospital name] and have my assistant follow up with you. Thank you for your inquiry. Peace."
 
HeadEast2014 said:
I go to a smaller school without a strong premed community, but there's a kid who is a premed and very involved in Student Council. This kid mentions his 4.0 gpa almost weekly and in the pre-class time for any class talks about how all of his classes are so easy and how he takes 22+ hours per semester and about his research activities. The guy is in so may groups that his email signature is 15 lines long (literally) and he likes to say that "those are only the important positions--I'm in many other organizations". He also likes to call everything a "meeting," so if he eats lunch with friends he'll come into his 1pm class talking about the "meeting" he was just in. Also loves to talk about the "pull" he has in StuCo to "make things happen," and he (in the past week) has apparently somehow gotten an assistant (which he loves to mention... "I'll see what I can make happen in StuCo about your problem, and have my assistant update you.")

He's been accepted to a top 10 medical school, though. Makes me sad.
Click to expand...

I knew a kid like this.
You know what I did?
I had sex with his girlfriend.
 
BrainsIsCool said:
minigun-o.gif


How is he going to be a competent physician when he's such a weird arse? Pure research, maybe?
Click to expand...
He is planning on going into research, but idk if he also wants to practice. His ego is just so enormous--hopefully once he gets out of small town Missouri he'll be humbled by even bigger gunners ;-)
 
baconshrimps said:
I knew a kid like this.
You know what I did?
I had sex with his girlfriend.
Click to expand...
Wow.
This guy doesn't have a girlfriend though. Small engineering school = no girls (and even if there were girls, he's not the kind of guy that would be able to land them... I hope.)
 
Also, I have a friend named "Gunnar." I think it's Scandinavian. He's really nice and not a premed, but I always laugh on the inside when people talk about disliking gunners :laugh:
 
HeadEast2014 said:
Wow.
This guy doesn't have a girlfriend though. Small engineering school = no girls (and even if there were girls, he's not the kind of guy that would be able to land them... I hope.)
Click to expand...

Cannot tell if the "Wow" is one of approval or of disappointment.
I'm going to pretend it was the former 🙂
 
baconshrimps said:
Cannot tell if the "Wow" is one of approval or of disappointment.
I'm going to pretend it was the former 🙂
Click to expand...
No judgment! But that was just far more intense than I was expecting.

Did you ever see the South Park episode where Cartman gets revenge on Scott Tenorman?...
 
NuttyEngDude said:
The absolute worst gunner stuff I experienced was from a lab partner who thought she had a higher grade than me and tried to take a hit on the last assignment thinking our lowered grades would push me down to a B while allowing her to keep her A.
Click to expand...

WOW. :wtf:

I don't even...

It's one thing to not help those who have helped you or to be irrationally secretive...but to go out of your way to feign friendliness as a guise for sabotage? Wow, that's just such a dick move.

(That girl who tried to run over the other girl is crazy too, but this is just too far too cold, calculating, and manipulative)
 
HeadEast2014 said:
No judgment! But that was just far more intense than I was expecting.

Did you ever see the South Park episode where Cartman gets revenge on Scott Tenorman?...
Click to expand...

Definitely would rather have @baconshrimps sleep with my girlfriend than suffer at the hands of Cartman.
 
baconshrimps said:
I never had to act like a d*ck to anyone to reach my goal.
Click to expand...

How would acting like a duck help you get into med school? Oh, I get it. Having webbed feet and oily water-resident feathers are huge advantages in the eyes of adcoms.
 
tmn said:
How would acting like a duck help you get into med school? Oh, I get it. Having webbed feet and oily water-resident feathers are huge advantages in the eyes of adcoms.
Click to expand...

.....I'm not going to tell you to shut up, but I'm putting you in time out.
 
tmn said:
How would acting like a duck help you get into med school? Oh, I get it. Having webbed feet and oily water-resident feathers are huge advantages in the eyes of adcoms.
Click to expand...

You can literally let stuff slide down your back. That's a huge advantage for medical training, I'd imagine. 😉
 
I wish I could post something on facebook like "aww yeah, A- when I thought I failed. w00t" but in my program (graduate) out of 40 or so students, there are maybe 3 or 4 of us that actually get in the A range....and everyone else is bitter about it...so I feel obligated NOT to post those kinds of FB statuses because then people will think I'm just trying to rub it in their face.
 
LuciusVorenus said:
hand_brain_model.jpg


Sorry...had to.
Click to expand...


hahaha at the hand, that was great.

Anyways, for me, you could always spot them in the front of the class (and yes, usually asking pretty irrelevant questions or flaunting their knowledge on the subject)... BUT here's where it gets interesting...

I TA'd for a mammalian physiology class and I could clearly see who the top scorers in the class were via test scores/final grade input. They definitely weren't the 'front row crew'. In fact, the kids who sat in the back (or close to it), silently laughing when the professor said something unintentionally funny ( " we measure nerve conductance in siemens... discovered by Werner von Siemens"), or when the gunners would be shooting, usually ended up with the highest grades.
 
Last edited:
baconshrimps said:
My junior year of college, there was this girl Stephanie in my dorm.
Stephanie was the absolute worst.
I was a transfer from community college, so I had not yet experienced the whole "competitive gunner" sub-culture of a 4 year college.
I was doing pretty well in one of our classes, and this girl asked me for my help with some stuff. Thinking it would be a nice thing to do, maybe make some friends since I didn't know anyone, I agreed to help her.
Maybe a few weeks later, for the next exam, there were some things I wasn't so sure of, so I asked if she wouldn't mind helping me out.
I was met with a slew of "my time is way more important" and "I don't have time, figure it out on your own."
She was accepted to 17 medical schools, most in the top 25.
Click to expand...

OMG Similar thing happened to me! A girl asked me for help, I gladly obliged (I truly enjoy helping whenever I can:nod:). Literally 15 minutes later when I needed help on a different problem, she said "You can figure it out. Work hard, you can't just expect other to do things for you." :wtf:

Oh yeah, and later I hear her using racial epithets (about Asians and Latinos) and she was laughing about it. Oh, but she claimed to be feminist. How can someone be feminist and racist? So much hypocrisy, it was digusting! :annoyed:After that, she had the AUDACITY of asking me if I wanted to have lunch with her. I had to SWERVE! I don't associate with racist, back-stabbing gunners!:nono:
 
NuttyEngDude said:
Almost all premeds I know try to find out about the competition. I suppose it's a facet of human nature.

The worst gunners I know are two-faced (fake people) about it, try to get you to help them while also bad-mouthing you to others.
The ones who ask a ton of questions in class I consider mostly harmless though they can be annoying.
The creepiest ones I've met in class sit within a 2 seat radius of me and change their seats when I change mine. Ideally sitting behind me in a lecture hall with graduated raised seats. I'd look over and they'd be watching what I was doing, writing, etc.
The most direct gunner stuff I've met was with lab partners who would try to hide data.
The absolute worst gunner stuff I experienced was from a lab partner who thought she had a higher grade than me and tried to take a hit on the last assignment thinking our lowered grades would push me down to a B while allowing her to keep her A.


Of these 10 or so people, maybe 2-3 have made it to med school, 2-3 have yet to apply, the rest have either failed out or have gone through multiple app cycles. I imagine they spend a long time honing their "gunning" skills so that by the time they make it to med school, they are the worst of the bunch.


As a non-trad, watching trads become more sophisticated in this as they get older or into upper level courses is heartbreaking.
Click to expand...

What the hell...
 
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