Confession: I'm a gunner (who's with me?)

[DrFelix]

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The funny thing is, medical school actually makes a lot of them more human by beating them down and humbling the **** out of them. There is no worse a group of people than accepted premeds for that very reason

 

[7331poas]

I'm pretty sure you can get lecture material on torrent sites. I have definitely seen them distributed on Tor around 3 years ago.

Of course they might not be legit but at face value they did.

Otherwise it seems like a lot of the reasons for not studying here are bull****. "Don't study because you might study wrong and permanently damage your understanding". Please man.

Many of the excuses here sound like a good faith attempt to lower drive and competition from extending out from med school into gap years and even senior year of undergrad.

 

[Mad Jack]

I'm pretty sure you can get lecture material on torrent sites. I have definitely seen them distributed on Tor around 3 years ago.

Of course they might not be legit but at face value they did.

Otherwise it seems like a lot of the reasons for not studying here are bull****. "Don't study because you might study wrong and permanently damage your understanding". Please man.

Many of the excuses here sound like a good faith attempt to lower drive and competition from extending out from med school into gap years and even senior year of undergrad.

It's just a waste of time, kid. Trust me. Most of the people who offer this advice have been there, done that. You're like a kid in high school who's just taken his first chemistry course and wants to make sure he's ready for chemistry in college by studying a book on thermodynamics- sure, you might garner something from it, but it will be little to nothing, as the material tested and focused on is very much going to depend on your professors. There's so much material you could literally spend all summer looking at Moore's, memorize half of it, and simply have memorized the wrong half. Plus you lose everything so fast- you really can't keep everything in your mind for an extended period of time, and each block emphasizes the finer points of a system- little crap like the mesosalpinx and the functions of the anconeus that you'll never ever see again. So your anatomy exams end up being 30% big picture stuff that's easy to learn and 70% obscure garbage from the system in question that is very difficult to learn and easy to forget, most of which will never be tested on the boards.

So, you know, feel free to be stupid with your time. 99 out of 100 people who've survived the first two years of medical school will tell you you're wasting your time. Many of those people will have made the very mistake you are making, only to see themselves have precisely zero advantage over their classmates come first year, or to have an advantage that dwindled after one week of anatomy lab (literally) when everyone caught up with them.

 

[Lebowski9]

I can see OP trying to give a speech like this to his/her classmates before exam 1:
"I was bred to be a gunner, (insert names here)..."

 

[Integral]

It's just a waste of time, kid. Trust me. Most of the people who offer this advice have been there, done that. You're like a kid in high school who's just taken his first chemistry course and wants to make sure he's ready for chemistry in college by studying a book on thermodynamics- sure, you might garner something from it, but it will be little to nothing, as the material tested and focused on is very much going to depend on your professors. There's so much material you could literally spend all summer looking at Moore's, memorize half of it, and simply have memorized the wrong half. Plus you lose everything so fast- you really can't keep everything in your mind for an extended period of time, and each block emphasizes the finer points of a system- little crap like the mesosalpinx and the functions of the anconeus that you'll never ever see again. So your anatomy exams end up being 30% big picture stuff that's easy to learn and 70% obscure garbage from the system in question that is very difficult to learn and easy to forget, most of which will never be tested on the boards.

So, you know, feel free to be stupid with your time. 99 out of 100 people who've survived the first two years of medical school will tell you you're wasting your time. Many of those people will have made the very mistake you are making, only to see themselves have precisely zero advantage over their classmates come first year, or to have an advantage that dwindled after one week of anatomy lab (literally) when everyone caught up with them.

This does make sense. Although, something like reviewing FA, if only a bit, could potentially help down the road (i.e. during dedicated).

 

[Mad Jack]

This does make sense. Although, something like reviewing FA, if only a bit, could potentially help down the road (i.e. during dedicated).

If you think you'll retain anything you half-understandingly skimmed from pre-MS1 all the way to dedicated you're either a genius or a fool.

 

[WedgeDawg]

I'm pretty sure you can get lecture material on torrent sites. I have definitely seen them distributed on Tor around 3 years ago.

Of course they might not be legit but at face value they did.

Otherwise it seems like a lot of the reasons for not studying here are bull****. "Don't study because you might study wrong and permanently damage your understanding". Please man.

Many of the excuses here sound like a good faith attempt to lower drive and competition from extending out from med school into gap years and even senior year of undergrad.

The advice I give to people who decide they don't want to listen to every med student here and go ahead and pre study is "great, try it and please let us know how it works out"

 

[7331poas]

The advice I give to people who decide they don't want to listen to every med student here and go ahead and pre study is "great, try it and please let us know how it works out"

That's fine and the worst that can possibly happen is someone does something they want for no purpose for a couple months. But there is no reason to throw out complete BS about how it's actually going to hurt people to learn things.

 

[samb]

I just want to thank you for a good laugh

 

[quintessences]

I just want to thank you for a good laugh

+1

 

[Lawpy]

lolz

Pre-studying might actually be detrimental because you don't know the depth to go, learn things incorrectly, learn things that don't matter, all while doing it inefficiently. The true gunner knows that rest is required for the long road of gunning ahead. Have fun burning out in MS1 while the true gunners keep on trucking by working hard AND smart.

This is probably the best answer in this thread and related threads on the topic. Well said.

 

[WedgeDawg]

That's fine and the worst that can possibly happen is someone does something they want for no purpose for a couple months. But there is no reason to throw out complete BS about how it's actually going to hurt people to learn things.

It /is/ possible to learn things incorrectly, so I don't think that people who argue that are arguing total BS - however, my main argument here is that it's pointless and won't actually help you get ahead. Lifestyle changes will help you get ahead much more because you'll get into the rhythm of med school faster and learn how to study more efficiently while in med school which will put you ahead of people (like me) who decided to just kind of wing it (meaning it took me a while longer to get into the swing of things).

But again, to each their own.

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

 

[Lost in Translation]

Ditto. yawn

Also the word gunner traditionally does not mean ambitious student, but usually a sabotaging jerk.

I still don't agree with that definition. Cutthroat is more like a sabotaging jerk, aka you'd cut the throat of a peer to get to where you want. Gunning is more like you're aiming for that spot, aka you have a gun and you're shooting at that target.

Maybe I'm just progressive.

 

[doyouhaveaflag]

I feel like I haven't seen this classic in a while. Here it is for good measure:

 

[Ismet]

This does make sense. Although, something like reviewing FA, if only a bit, could potentially help down the road (i.e. during dedicated).

First Aid is a review resource, not a learning resource. You use it after you learn the material, or alongside learning the material.

 

[Integral]

First Aid is a review resource, not a learning resource. You use it after you learn the material, or alongside learning the material.

Correct. However, it won't hurt to prime your attention to important and high yield topics so when they are encountered in class it would only be easier to master that content, even if only a tiny bit. How could it not be? If someone wants to waste their time doing this, then so be it. But to say it is detrimental is ridiculous.

 

[f4reignbeauty]

Yeah, that's right, I'm a gunner -- but not an a**hole.

I'm going to be entering M1 this fall and it's a goal of mine to earn high honors, have the option of choosing to pursue a highly competitive specialty, and all that good stuff that comes with that.

Now, with that out of the way....

I was wondering if anyone else is planning on hard-core studying the month or two before matriculating? Similar to MCAT study schedule.

I haven't taken anatomy since my freshman year, and I want to smash the curve -- so I'm thinking about taking an intensive course this summer. Does anyone have any suggestions on courses or materials that overlap with M1 curriculum?
If anyone wants a accountability study-buddy, or share lists of study materials, PM me.

And if anyone wants to flame me, go ahead. I'm fine busting my arse, to kick yours.

I don't know if this is a serious post, but I'll entertain it. I would not recommend pre-studying before school starts. You should use this summer to travel, and just relax! Also, I do not think what you described above is "gunner" per say, and I also think you've underestimated how challenging the medical school curriculum may be lol. Well, it isn't conceptually challenging, but the load of information can be.

 

[f4reignbeauty]

Pre-study all summer. If you look back at the first page when they mentioned the gunners coming out of the woodwork later on in school, this is them coming out earlier. Everyone here is a gunner in disguise and are trying to convince you not to pre-study because they know it'll put you at the top of the class. In fact, any negative advice you get from this site is just low-key gunning.

Talk about the long con.

Hope you're being sarcastic.

 

[Lost in Translation]

But it equally could mean gunning down your competition...

Anyway that's why I said traditionally, because language evolves with usage.

Yea. The terms are stupid, anyway.

 

[Coltuna]

bro the thing you have to understand is SDN is a very "lowest common denominator" place. i mean yea the premeds here are better informed than the rest but you ahve to remember most go to unheard of schools / state schools , they see DO as absolutely equal to MD and get upset if anyone dares question that, there is a certain amount of lethargy and apathy with these forum users too. so thats why they shun gunners.

im totally with you man. these guys have a p=md mentality and dont have the same intelligence as us. and thats a fact, you can make thousands of anki cards and highlight FireCracker and take Najeeb out to dinner, but if you dont have that intelligence you wont crack honors as easily. so they can have their FM, peds, allergy, they can enjoy being woken up 3 times a night in some God foresaken IM subspecialty and dying 20 years early due to lack of sleep.. you and me and the rest of the gifted ones can go derm / ortho and not be prisoners to corporate medicine

PM me if u wanna talk more to someone who keeps it real and is not just a parrot of SDN tropes

O'Doyle rules! O'Doyle rules! O'doyle rules! ...

 

[ChackieJan]

Yeah, that's right, I'm a gunner -- but not an a**hole.

I'm going to be entering M1 this fall and it's a goal of mine to earn high honors, have the option of choosing to pursue a highly competitive specialty, and all that good stuff that comes with that.

Now, with that out of the way....

I was wondering if anyone else is planning on hard-core studying the month or two before matriculating? Similar to MCAT study schedule.

I haven't taken anatomy since my freshman year, and I want to smash the curve -- so I'm thinking about taking an intensive course this summer. Does anyone have any suggestions on courses or materials that overlap with M1 curriculum?
If anyone wants a accountability study-buddy, or share lists of study materials, PM me.

And if anyone wants to flame me, go ahead. I'm fine busting my arse, to kick yours.

Buddy, you better start studying now. I've been studying intensively 12 hrs/day for 2 months now. Also, I've finished my personal statement for residency and have emailed my future professors to get letters of recommendation.

Sent from my Nexus 6 using SDN mobile

 

[Sardinia]

Would you say that first year is almost like just memorizing factoids and second year is when one really understands it? I'm only in undergrad but I looked at a copy of first aid once just out of curiousity and I kinda freaked out. That is a lot of minutiae, how on Earth do students remember and integrate all of those little details? Does your brain just adjust or what? Sorry if this sounds really naive but I really am curious

Popular strategy was to download First Aid .pdf and to just run to Staples/Kinko's or use the University printers to print out the pages and punch holes in them. Then just insert the relevant information by subject based on what you cover so you are reviewing for boards while you take the classes simultaneously. First Aid is relatively broad compared to lecture material as you will often have to memorize way more minutia for class than is required for grasping the bigger picture. Also, I thought class exams were pretty comprehensive in the sense that you had to completely understand the things you learned. For instance, our required text was Moore's Clinical which presented a cartoon or a cadaver representing the anatomical concept of focus, however it would be tested as an X-ray/CT scan or patient diagnosis that would require you to make the connection.

It's not like in second year you review any of the first year topics. In fact the consensus is that second year is even more intensive than first year with patho-phys/pharma often addressing complications with the human body to contrast the studies in first year regarding learning the condition of the human body e.g. anatomy/phys/bchem. Although you will often be tested on clinical applications of disease states in first year, there is still more focus driven towards the system of the human body in a non-disease state.