I cannot see your original post so I will just answer based on the topic question.
Gunner means different things to different students and school cultures. Some places it refers to someone who will actively work to sabotage a classmate to get ahead (I believe this is the original use), and in many places it is used to refer to someone who is trying to get the best grades in the class even if they are not sabotaging a classmate to get it. There are in between uses that include those who are showy with their grades etc.
Okay, so I can't tell you how to avoid being called a gunner because that's dependent upon the ways others perceive you which dependent upon not only your behavior but their experiences and worries.
What I can say is that for me...I tried to find ways to make sure I could sleep at night with my behaviors. This meant pushing myself for success and supporting my colleagues by being fair and helpful to them.
Maybe this isn't enough for you but it was enough for me.
To this end, I studied hard and pushed myself to learn the material so that I could earn the best grades I possibly could. This may mean long hours, frequent questions via email or professors open hours, and some during class. It may mean that I did every possible learning experience offered to me. After all, it's what I was paying for with lots of money and sacrifice.
I worked to share what I had learned or created with the class, especially those who I knew were working hard and were equally helpful with their knowledge.
When it comes to clinicals....this got slightly more challenging. On a rotation, if you work hard by pulling research, knowing all the labs tests etc for all the patients, and such and your colleague does not, this will negatively affect their standing. Te balance I found was to unleash myself on the shelf exam and the patients we had on the service. I felt that anything I did related to these two content areas was fair game (at least as I saw it) and so I knew everything I could about our patients and the shelf content. I never sabotaged a colleague so if they wanted to work equally hard it was open to them and I would have loved it.
If someone wants to coast through school and still be rewarded with great grades they are living in a fantasy world. I won't be the one to indulge them by sitting back and drinking whatever kool aid they are drinking.
I was occasionally called a gunner but I'm okay with it. I helped everyone who asked for reasonable help, I never actively undermined a colleague, and I did my best to learn my craft at each stage of my ability. I gave every ounce of energy and thought i had to the matter.
Why do I feel strongly about earning the best grades possible? It is te only self assessment I had at the time to judge my content understanding and my application. I used it as a marker for my effort and dedication to my task at hand. Now as someone who had spent a few years assisting in ranking students and being in practice for a few years I can say I am always surprised by how much I do remember from those days. Also, every rank list committee I have supported held to the adage that past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Certainly everyone knows a person who struggled with exams or something and scored low (I've had my share) and then went on to be a fantastic clinician, and people know the top of the class graduate who went on to be a terrible clinician, but looking as a whole, past performance is the best predictor of future success.
Remember many people will call you gunner because your effort makes them feel bad about the lack of effort they have exerted or the lack of interest they have in learning the subject. Certainly if you work to hinder your classmates then you have earned the title. You have gunned them down...after all that's how the term started I'm told.
Anyways, I sleep very well everyday
🙂
