SDN turned me into a gunner.

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I used to think I was pretty well off, but I've really been humbled here.

My lowly MCAT is pretty disappointing in the face of all these 35+s
 
armybound said:
I used to think I was pretty well off, but I've really been humbled here.

My lowly MCAT is pretty disappointing in the face of all these 35+s
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I just tell myself I really could've done it if I'd tried harder... 😉
 
This place made me want to go to lectures and study.

1st semester, 1st year : 2 lectures total = 2.7 GPA (registered on SDN around finals)
2nd semester, 1st year : I have currently attended a record-breaking 8 lectures. 8/8 at this point. WOOO!!
 
armybound said:
I used to think I was pretty well off, but I've really been humbled here.

My lowly MCAT is pretty disappointing in the face of all these 35+s
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I just tell myself that it doesn't matter.
 
bretticus said:
I just tell myself I really could've done it if I'd tried harder... 😉
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Alternatively, you could just blame it on racial preferences . . .😉
 
Not too happy with my MCAT score either. Everyone on SDN has amazing ECs. I dont know how they find all these opportunities and how they have the time to fit it all into their day - while having a better gpa and mcat. I hate this dog eat dog process. Guess that this is the price we have to pay to keep the demand for doctors and their salaries high.

I think I should just try harder.
 
i think if i'd seen this site before i graduated, i would have become a #1 gunna (lame song pun) simply b/c i didn't realize my gpa has kept me out of most places.
 
Just remember that most poeple on SDN are trying to get into very competative schools! In fact ide like to guess that an extreamly high percentege of SDN members get into medical school compared with the non-SDN. The interview feedback pages alone offers a huge advantage
 
SDN is skewed towards the more serious and anal-retentive premeds. Just remember that the people you see on the forum are probably more motivated and focused than your average incoming freshmen premed. I knew plenty of premeds (and med students) currently who are great students but who would be shocked to find what is considered 'standard fare' on these forums.
 
Just trying to transfer to UCSD is forcing me to be a gunner, and the fact that I've been trying to land a clinic job dosent help either.
 
NonTradMed said:
SDN is skewed towards the more serious and anal-retentive premeds. Just remember that the people you see on the forum are probably more motivated and focused than your average incoming freshmen premed. I knew plenty of premeds (and med students) currently who are great students but who would be shocked to find what is considered 'standard fare' on these forums.
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this is so true. in fact at one point i looked at the first year class at my state school and thought there is no way in hell these people should allowed to be doctors. then i realized my ideas of what it takes to get into medical school and what makes a good doctor were very off.
 
seeing people talk on this makes me want to take all my remaining classes all at once and study by @$$ off. i cant wait to beat some of you people. mwuahha hooray for competition! jk 😀
 
I wish I had found SDN years ago; I would have been a gunner too. I guess I am a gunner at my state school but seeing people's stats on here make me feel lazy.
 
NonTradMed said:
SDN is skewed towards the more serious and anal-retentive premeds. Just remember that the people you see on the forum are probably more motivated and focused than your average incoming freshmen premed. I knew plenty of premeds (and med students) currently who are great students but who would be shocked to find what is considered 'standard fare' on these forums.
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I'd agree with NonTM too, you have to be somewhat anal to keep pace with a forum that has like 30+ posts per day and 100+ ppl on the forums at any one time. This will definitely skew the pre-med demographics a bit.

I'd also like to express some misgivings about letting your desire to compete with others turn you into a "gunner". I just finished reading a book called the "Overachievers" by Alexandra Robbins who wrote about h.s kids at a school near where I grow up. These poor kids took on all the E.C, A.Ps and college prep classes they could get their hands on just to outcompete their peers and be "the best". In the end, most of them suffered from lack of sleep, poor health (mental and physical), abuse of medication/study aides and disillusionment with the whole process (and weren't happy to boot).

So, if you find yourself drawn to and love the very hardest specialties and residencies, then great, go for it! But otherwise, if it's merely your desire to "out compete" your peers, then I think you'rs setting urself up for a hard fall. Just my 2 cents.
 
imagined space said:
In the end, most of them suffered from lack of sleep, poor health (mental and physical), abuse of medication/study aides and disillusionment with the whole process (and weren't happy to boot).
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that's right - your gpa might be twice mine, but at least i sleep a lot, weed keeps me more sane than you, and i dont abuse study aides. 🙁 🙁 🙁 :scared: 🙁

\sarcasm
 
melissainsd said:
I wish I had found SDN years ago; I would have been a gunner too. I guess I am a gunner at my state school but seeing people's stats on here make me feel lazy.
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you have a 3.96 gpa, how are you not a gunner? haha
 
3.96 GPA with 7+ years (3 years of withdrawls) to graduate = not a gunner.
 
Aerith said:
Omg, I know exactly what you mean!
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No, you don't.

Invited for Interview/Awaiting Decision
Harvard University - "1/20"
University of California, Irvine - "2/5"
University of California, Los Angeles - "12/14. Dream school!"
University of California, San Francisco - "3/5"
University of Miami - "1/22"
University of Utah - "11/13"
Washington University in St. Louis - "12/7"
Yale University - "2/26"
 
I was impressed with the people I've met here, but I don't really feel I'm in competition with you. I tend to think of this place as being more cooperative (sharing experiences, MCAT strategies, etc.).
 
armybound said:
like yours is bad... plus that GPA, and from Vandy no less.
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Not bad, but not 35+ either. In fact, I think my GPA is about the only stellar part of my app. With two acceptances though, I'm certainly not complaining. 🙂
 
seeing everybody respond to this thread makes me wan2 be a gunna, but I have a long way to go and a couple more years of school to get through... so I will be up there with you guys soon...
 
this place is a gunner breeding ground.

and that being said, i'm a gunner in the making 🙂
 
NonTradMed said:
SDN is skewed towards the more serious and anal-retentive premeds.
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:laugh: Certainly seems that way sometimes.

Quix said:
I was impressed with the people I've met here, but I don't really feel I'm in competition with you. I tend to think of this place as being more cooperative (sharing experiences, MCAT strategies, etc.).
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These are the words of a very wise SDNer. Screw competition, screw feeling inferior to some SDNer because of an MCAT, screw all that garbage. SDN is a resource and should be treated as such; it is not something people should use to feel bad about themselves.

polarbingbear said:
this place is a gunner breeding ground.
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Can be, can be... After a little bit of laughter at the posts, I wonder how those that bitch about their "poor" sectional MCAT score despite a 39 on the test itself are going to feel in medical school. I mean, I'm as semi-anal as I'm sure a lot of others here are, and I have a GPA that will go nicely on my AMCAS/TMDSAS, but ... damn.
 
hahaha in my postbacc/SMP program, i've already been sighted as a gunner. i was so embarrassed when someone pointed to me and called me a gunner. not such a bad thing, though. i think SDN did help with that since i felt i had something to prove, to validate myself as a med school applicant.
 
yourmom25 said:
hahaha in my postbacc/SMP program, i've already been sighted as a gunner. i was so embarrassed when someone pointed to me and called me a gunner. not such a bad thing, though. i think SDN did help with that since i felt i had something to prove, to validate myself as a med school applicant.
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It seems like a lot of students throw the "Gunner" label at anyone who's doing better than they are . . .
 
PREMEDWOAHS said:
you have a 3.96 gpa, how are you not a gunner? haha
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If you see the actual definition of gunner in other recent threads, you will see that being a gunner has less to do with actually doing well by studying hard and more to doing well by bringing others down. Most top grade students are not gunners. Gunners are not gunning for a good grade as much as gunning down the competition. Being a gunner is simply a personality flaw seen amongst a minority of ultra-competitive types such as premeds, med students, law students, etc.
 
trying said:
this is so true. in fact at one point i looked at the first year class at my state school and thought there is no way in hell these people should allowed to be doctors. then i realized my ideas of what it takes to get into medical school and what makes a good doctor were very off.
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Yeah, but then again, most people on here have a very skewed idea of what translates into being a good physician. This false altruism act a lot of people try to portray is laughable. Often being a little jaded or cynical is a lot better than thinking you're going to be the one to save the world or do something remarkable and noteworthy.
 
Evelynsmith said:

<snip>
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Buahahaha! That's amazing. :laugh:

My first two weeks on this forum basically made me freak out before I realized that SDN isn't representative of the wider med school applicant pool. I think what one poster said is true - everyone on here is a degree more competitive than their average classmate. Those who fall on the lower end of that spectrum are still better prepared than most of their classmates simply because this website offers a ton of useful information. People who react to the competition on here by trying harder are the ones who will make it.
 
Law2Doc said:
Again, this is pretty much the opposite of the definition of a gunner. A gunner is not someone who reacts positively to competition -- he seeks to undermine.
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What if you decided to use the competitive nature on here as both an impetus to improve your own application through hard work and a lot of dedication, but also decided to be as underhanded and cutthroat as the next guy? :meanie:
 
DropkickMurphy said:
What if you decided to use the competitive nature on here as both an impetus to improve your own application through hard work and a lot of dedication, but also decided to be as underhanded and cutthroat as the next guy? :meanie:
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Then sure, you are still a gunner, and probably a more successful one. It is the "underhanded" part that defines it.
 
imagined space said:
I'd also like to express some misgivings about letting your desire to compete with others turn you into a "gunner". I just finished reading a book called the "Overachievers" by Alexandra Robbins who wrote about h.s kids at a school near where I grow up. These poor kids took on all the E.C, A.Ps and college prep classes they could get their hands on just to outcompete their peers and be "the best". In the end, most of them suffered from lack of sleep, poor health (mental and physical), abuse of medication/study aides and disillusionment with the whole process (and weren't happy to boot).
Click to expand...

Alexandra Robbins writes some very skewed stuff. Not to discredit what you're saying (sounds suspiciously like my own high school...) but I would take her grandiose conclusions with a grain of salt.

That being said, yeah, I feel like SDN has made me feel the pressure a bit more when it comes to getting into medical school. It doesn't help that the majority of the pre-meds at my school are people I genuinely dislike. It's one thing to beat somebody, it's another thing entirely if you borderline hate them....
 
ssquared said:
It doesn't help that the majority of the pre-meds at my school are people I genuinely dislike. It's one thing to beat somebody, it's another thing entirely if you borderline hate them....
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Well, you'd better learn to at least tolerate them because most of med school is largely populated by people who were pre-meds.
 
Quix said:
I was impressed with the people I've met here, but I don't really feel I'm in competition with you. I tend to think of this place as being more cooperative (sharing experiences, MCAT strategies, etc.).
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Very true! That is the way I see SDN.

My application cycle has really been much, much smoother because of all the help, advice, and information I've collected on this website.

I've actually been giving other pre-meds this website, those who are applying for entrance in 2008 (I don't want to freak out the others just yet), and I find it funny that sometimes when they have questions (okay, very often) they'll still call ME.

I mean, I am honored, and with three acceptances I know that the young ones think I must know everything there is to know about medical school, but I GAVE YOU THIS VERY USEFUL WEBSITE A MONTH AGO. USE IT.

Haha, anyway, they are more likely to find better advice here, more variety of opinions, etc, than if they just ask one person. Granted, you will get bashed half the time for asking stupid questions (sometimes I read my early posts in SHAME), but it's a small price to get all the answers you need.

Plus, who doesn't like to be able to freak out along with other people! It's good for the soul.

I apologize for the rant. 😳
 
Law2Doc said:
Well, you'd better learn to at least tolerate them because most of med school is largely populated by people who were pre-meds.
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Ah, well, there's some backstory as to why I don't like them. I don't dislike them because they're pre-meds, gunners, or whatever...it's a rather long story, but it involves a psychotic roomate, anti-semetic and racist remarks, death threats, and people overall acting like a bunch of 3 year olds. I sure hope med school isn't full of immature bigots.

And I mean that they're the pre-meds I unfortunately have classes with this semester. There are others on campus that are my close friends.
 
People are naturally competitive. Competing is what brings fun in life. Why do people play video games, sports, etc.?

Competition is fun.
 
Tired said:
It seems like a lot of students throw the "Gunner" label at anyone who's doing better than they are . . .
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This is an annoying misuse of the term. And it happens a lot!
 
ssquared said:
Alexandra Robbins writes some very skewed stuff. Not to discredit what you're saying (sounds suspiciously like my own high school...) but I would take her grandiose conclusions with a grain of salt.
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Oh yeah, without a doubt. You'll notice I didn't credit any of her world-class "research" and I'm sure she highlighted the kids who best supported her argument. Nevertheless, some people fall unhealthily into the competition track and as future doctors I think we have a responsibility to set a good example for healthy living.

*I hope the above statement isn't trolling. It's just an opinion of mine.*
 
imagined space said:
Oh yeah, without a doubt. You'll notice I didn't credit any of her world-class "research" and I'm sure she highlighted the kids who best supported her argument. Nevertheless, some people fall unhealthily into the competition track and as future doctors I think we have a responsibility to set a good example for healthy living.
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I wish there was a smiley that was for applause, but I'll have to go with this: 👍
 
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