Tips on avoiding the gunner stigma

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AH i just read your name Brevik.. by anychance are you related to ANDERSON BREVIK? CUS YOU SURE SOUND LIKE IT
 
Don't worry too much about what other people think srs.
 
It's that sort of reaction that I'm worried about. I don't even fully understand it: the vast majority of people in med school were over-achievers throughout high school / university. I don't quite get why everyone pretends that being an over-achiever in med school is now suddenly a bad thing.

Anyway, I'm going off point. I'm genuinely looking for advice on specific things that I can do to avoid being seen as a gunner in med school.
 
Brevik said:
It's that sort of reaction that I'm worried about. I don't even fully understand it: the vast majority of people in med school were over-achievers throughout high school / university. I don't quite get why everyone pretends that being an over-achiever in med school is now suddenly a bad thing.

Anyway, I'm going off point. I'm genuinely looking for advice on specific things that I can do to avoid being seen as a gunner in med school.
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what i meant to say was, don't judge people with how much they know now. most of it you will forget anyway and it doesn't mean they are going to be a good or bad doctor. Don't show off, don't act cocky, don't always be the first person to raise your hand and answer questions. Even though you know a lot you don't have to show that you do. Impress people with being humble and knowledgeable its much more like able. Don't ever be like "omg thats so easy, why don't you know it" because something you might find hard someone else may find easy.
 
Priapism4tooLong said:
what i meant to say was, don't judge people with how much they know now. most of it you will forget anyway and it doesn't mean they are going to be a good or bad doctor. Don't show off, don't act cocky, don't always be the first person to raise your hand and answer questions. Even though you know a lot you don't have to show that you do. Impress people with being humble and knowledgeable its much more like able. Don't ever be like "omg thats so easy, why don't you know it" because something you might find hard someone else may find easy.
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So is that it? That's what people really hate about gunners? The one-upsmanship?

I was generally more concerned about how people might react to me being "too intense" about medicine.

@madchemist89 I was debating putting the "not a troll" disclaimer in my OP but I figured I'd get called out regardless. I'm genuinely concerned about future social anxiety because of my personality. If instead I wrote a thread about how I'm nervous about med school because I'm too shy/awkward/other personality issue, I doubt I'd be called a troll..
 
I'd recommend not looking down on people for not knowing 'clinically relevant' info (what does that even mean to someone not in at least MS3, let alone a pre-med?).

The main issue with gunners is when they sabotage and/or demean other students. Don't let your disdain for your classmates be visible in your face or audible in your speech. Nobody really hates the person who studies really hard and gets 100s on every exam. People hate those that can't stop talking about the 90+ they got after every exam, those that ask what everyone got right after exam (just to show them up with the 90+ they got), or those who complain about how hard their life is that they got an 85 that one time.

Don't do those things.

It won't 100% fix the situation, but it will stop your inevitable situation (based off your arrogance and belief that you 'know clinical information' from reading FA) from becoming much worse.
 
Brevik said:
Cool story bro.
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images (2).jpg


A high drive/intellectual curiosity doesn't make you a gunner. It's just like the king cobra isn't actually a cobra, the 'Gunner' per the plebs isn't actually a Gunner.
 
Brevik said:
I'm genuinely concerned about future social anxiety because of my personality. If instead I wrote a thread about how I'm nervous about med school because I'm too shy/awkward/other personality issue, I doubt I'd be called a troll..
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If you let your medicine-dominated personality show in places or times where most people are taking a break from 'medicine all day everyday', then yes, you're going to have an awkward social experience.
 
evilbooyaa said:
I'd recommend not looking down on people for not knowing 'clinically relevant' info (what does that even mean to someone not in at least MS3, let alone a pre-med?).

The main issue with gunners is when they sabotage and/or demean other students. Don't let your disdain for your classmates be visible in your face or audible in your speech. Nobody really hates the person who studies really hard and gets 100s on every exam. People hate those that can't stop talking about the 90+ they got after every exam, those that ask what everyone got right after exam (just to show them up with the 90+ they got), or those who complain about how hard their life is that they got an 85 that one time.

Don't do those things.

It won't 100% fix the situation, but it will stop your inevitable situation (based off your arrogance and belief that you 'know clinical information' from reading FA) from becoming much worse.
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Thank you, this was helpful.
 
someone plz reserve a residency spot at MGH for this guy.
 
Study as hard as you want, but be helpful to your classmates at the same time. Point out good resources, share your mnemonics and Anki cards. The hardest working people in my class are also the nicest and most helpful. Definitely not gunners in the traditional sense.
 
I hate you already. You don't know as much as you think you do bud, good luck.
 
@Lucca and @bestcoast027 Thank you for the replies, I really do appreciate the advice. More than anything I just wanted to know how I could get away with working hard without being resented for it.

The other troll comments were kind of expected, but at least mildly amusing.
 
This is a bad troll thread and you should feel bad, OP
 
Brevik said:
@Lucca and @bestcoast027 Thank you for the replies, I really do appreciate the advice. More than anything I just wanted to know how I could get away with working hard without being resented for it.

The other troll comments were kind of expected, but at least mildly amusing.
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dude where's my thank you? after calling you hitler and anderson brevik i was actually nice. And everyone in medical school works hard, don't say ridiculous things.
 
Brevik said:
@Lucca and @bestcoast027 Thank you for the replies, I really do appreciate the advice. More than anything I just wanted to know how I could get away with working hard without being resented for it.

The other troll comments were kind of expected, but at least mildly amusing.
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First of all, everybody in your class will work hard. Many will work harder than you, there will be people smarter than you. I don't remember because I have many other things on mind (and I see you erased your post), but I'm pretty confident you implied that you know more "clinically relevant material" than third and fourth year medical students. No you don't. Nobody cares if you study all day, every day, many people do. It's part of the game, but if you brag about how much you study and how much more you know, you will be resented.

You'll probably be like the girl in my class who posted her first anatomy grade on the FB group. You might be able to guess how well liked she is.
 
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NeuroSpeed said:
How did the OP get away without someone quoting his first post? It seems like it was a true gem but now lots of us will never know.

I. Am. Disappoint.
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It went' something like this


I got into my top choice of medical school. I am amazing, against all of SDN advice i studied before my first year of medical school. I already know 75% of FA (NEARLY PERFECTLY) and i feel like i know more than my whole incoming class already. I actually look down upon them for not studying. I dont understand why this is bad?. In medical school you should be working hard.

How do i get people to not hate me?
 
Here is the google cache of the original post:

"So I was fortunate enough to be accepted at my top choice school very early during the cycle and I've been spending most of my gap year traveling/working. I had a lot of down time though so, against the SDN consensus, I did a fair amount of 'pre-studying'. The thing is, I'm realizing that I'm a gunner. I've already read several textbooks and I'm familiar with ~75% of FA and know at least a third of it cold (mostly the organ-based systems).

Yes, I have First Aid. Yes, I have both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Yes, I'm aware that I'm [insert demeaning adjective here].

I've come across a lot of MS1+2 students in the past few months through my research gig and eavesdropped on them as they get pimped during shadowing sessions and I'm already looking down on them because I feel like I've learned more clinically relevant/testable material in a few months of self-study than they have in 2 years of med school.

So basically, I'm turning into an enormous prick and I don't know what to do about it. I like being an over-achiever, but I'm obviously worried about how my future classmates/professors/doctors will see me if I'm perceived as a gunner. As stupid as this sounds, does anyone have any tips on how I can avoid the stigma of gunner-ism without compromising my natural sense of competitiveness/intellectual curiousity? What are the specific behaviors of gunners that people dislike the most?
TL,DR: I'm a pre-MS1 gunner and I don't think my personality is going to change. What can I do so people won't hate me?"


Internet skills win.
 
madchemist89 said:
Here is the google cache of the original post:

"So I was fortunate enough to be accepted at my top choice school very early during the cycle and I've been spending most of my gap year traveling/working. I had a lot of down time though so, against the SDN consensus, I did a fair amount of 'pre-studying'. The thing is, I'm realizing that I'm a gunner. I've already read several textbooks and I'm familiar with ~75% of FA and know at least a third of it cold (mostly the organ-based systems).

Yes, I have First Aid. Yes, I have both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Yes, I'm aware that I'm [insert demeaning adjective here].

I've come across a lot of MS1+2 students in the past few months through my research gig and eavesdropped on them as they get pimped during shadowing sessions and I'm already looking down on them because I feel like I've learned more clinically relevant/testable material in a few months of self-study than they have in 2 years of med school.

So basically, I'm turning into an enormous prick and I don't know what to do about it. I like being an over-achiever, but I'm obviously worried about how my future classmates/professors/doctors will see me if I'm perceived as a gunner. As stupid as this sounds, does anyone have any tips on how I can avoid the stigma of gunner-ism without compromising my natural sense of competitiveness/intellectual curiousity? What are the specific behaviors of gunners that people dislike the most?
TL,DR: I'm a pre-MS1 gunner and I don't think my personality is going to change. What can I do so people won't hate me?"


Internet skills win.
Click to expand...
You know how I know you're a pre-med? You think studying First Aid is going to teach you medicine.
 
madchemist89 said:
Here is the google cache of the original post:

"So I was fortunate enough to be accepted at my top choice school very early during the cycle and I've been spending most of my gap year traveling/working. I had a lot of down time though so, against the SDN consensus, I did a fair amount of 'pre-studying'. The thing is, I'm realizing that I'm a gunner. I've already read several textbooks and I'm familiar with ~75% of FA and know at least a third of it cold (mostly the organ-based systems).

Yes, I have First Aid. Yes, I have both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Yes, I'm aware that I'm [insert demeaning adjective here].

I've come across a lot of MS1+2 students in the past few months through my research gig and eavesdropped on them as they get pimped during shadowing sessions and I'm already looking down on them because I feel like I've learned more clinically relevant/testable material in a few months of self-study than they have in 2 years of med school.

So basically, I'm turning into an enormous prick and I don't know what to do about it. I like being an over-achiever, but I'm obviously worried about how my future classmates/professors/doctors will see me if I'm perceived as a gunner. As stupid as this sounds, does anyone have any tips on how I can avoid the stigma of gunner-ism without compromising my natural sense of competitiveness/intellectual curiousity? What are the specific behaviors of gunners that people dislike the most?
TL,DR: I'm a pre-MS1 gunner and I don't think my personality is going to change. What can I do so people won't hate me?"


Internet skills win.
Click to expand...

I was actually pretty close with what i said.
 
madchemist89 said:
Here is the google cache of the original post:

"So I was fortunate enough to be accepted at my top choice school very early during the cycle and I've been spending most of my gap year traveling/working. I had a lot of down time though so, against the SDN consensus, I did a fair amount of 'pre-studying'. The thing is, I'm realizing that I'm a gunner. I've already read several textbooks and I'm familiar with ~75% of FA and know at least a third of it cold (mostly the organ-based systems).

Yes, I have First Aid. Yes, I have both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Yes, I'm aware that I'm [insert demeaning adjective here].

I've come across a lot of MS1+2 students in the past few months through my research gig and eavesdropped on them as they get pimped during shadowing sessions and I'm already looking down on them because I feel like I've learned more clinically relevant/testable material in a few months of self-study than they have in 2 years of med school.

So basically, I'm turning into an enormous prick and I don't know what to do about it. I like being an over-achiever, but I'm obviously worried about how my future classmates/professors/doctors will see me if I'm perceived as a gunner. As stupid as this sounds, does anyone have any tips on how I can avoid the stigma of gunner-ism without compromising my natural sense of competitiveness/intellectual curiousity? What are the specific behaviors of gunners that people dislike the most?
TL,DR: I'm a pre-MS1 gunner and I don't think my personality is going to change. What can I do so people won't hate me?"


Internet skills win.
Click to expand...

Nice find. Thanks for that, I needed a laugh.
 
madchemist89 said:
Here is the google cache of the original post:

"So I was fortunate enough to be accepted at my top choice school very early during the cycle and I've been spending most of my gap year traveling/working. I had a lot of down time though so, against the SDN consensus, I did a fair amount of 'pre-studying'. The thing is, I'm realizing that I'm a gunner. I've already read several textbooks and I'm familiar with ~75% of FA and know at least a third of it cold (mostly the organ-based systems).

Yes, I have First Aid. Yes, I have both the 2013 and 2014 editions. Yes, I'm aware that I'm [insert demeaning adjective here].

I've come across a lot of MS1+2 students in the past few months through my research gig and eavesdropped on them as they get pimped during shadowing sessions and I'm already looking down on them because I feel like I've learned more clinically relevant/testable material in a few months of self-study than they have in 2 years of med school.

So basically, I'm turning into an enormous prick and I don't know what to do about it. I like being an over-achiever, but I'm obviously worried about how my future classmates/professors/doctors will see me if I'm perceived as a gunner. As stupid as this sounds, does anyone have any tips on how I can avoid the stigma of gunner-ism without compromising my natural sense of competitiveness/intellectual curiousity? What are the specific behaviors of gunners that people dislike the most?
TL,DR: I'm a pre-MS1 gunner and I don't think my personality is going to change. What can I do so people won't hate me?"


Internet skills win.
Click to expand...
OMG How did you find his post like that?!!? Awesome.
 
gammawave said:
What irks me MOST of all though, is when gunners do this to the more "disadvantaged" kids, or kids that they know didn't study that hard for something. What is the point of asking people like that what they got on a test, when you know very well that they failed it and you got an A+? Freakin horrible! I called a person out for doing this..he was my lab partner and would pull this stuff w other students in the class. A total show off. He was really good at making people feel small 24/7.
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That is absolutely sad that a rich gunner would do that to someone who is poor or disdvantaged. I shouldn't be surprised, but it's still disgusting.
 
Obviously this is a troll thread. But do people actually act like this in med school?

I never hung out with pre meds so I didn't get first hand experience of gunners in the wild.
 
gammawave said:
Seriously..the exam/grade thing has *always* irked me about pre meds. It has gotten to the point now where I don't even respond to certain people when they ask what my real grade was on tests/in a class..just so they'll stop pestering me once and for all. There is absolutely no point. I've told people I got C's on things just to get them out of my hair and move on to the next person lol.
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One of my premed stories: I had someone approach me because they knew my grade already. How? She rifled through all the tests and found who had what marks when her friend distracted the TA.
 
Welcome to the dark side!
 
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Nidor said:
Story time, why being a gunner will catch up with you in the long run:

1. It is impossible to do well in M3 without the nurses liking you, esp in surgery they can make your life hell or push your grade way up. Typically, gunner's aren't the easiest to work with.

2. A friend of mine is horrible in taking exams, a year behind in Med school (granted, this is quite common in Belgium) and is doing his M3 together with me this year. He has gotten all honors (Top 10% out of a 450 student class in a top 100 medical school globally) so far with several LOR for all kinds of different specialities. Why? Because after a certain level of basic knowledge that you need to have, the extra knowledge is not gone offset the fact that people hate working with you. Being a fun person will actually benefit your grades at some point.

Conclusion, you'll get a great step 1 score, but in the end, its not about step scores, its about becoming a good doctor and the communication skills that where displayed in writing this topic hardly plea in your favor (or you know, you might have been trolling, whatever)
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Top 100 med school globally? There are more than 100 med schools in the USA.. Sorry Belgium.
 
lol yeah because global rankings matter a whole lot I'm sure your patients will be super impressed with your slightly above Vanderbilt ranking
 
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