What exactly is a "gunner"?

[shareesh]

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Wow... remember how hard they try at the beginning of the year to make it a non-competitive environment? I'm class of '05 and I thought it was a moderately cooperative environment. I guess it's not the same for the recent graduating class though.

i think md rapper is a gunner 😀

 

[hateroftheyear]

a gunner consists of two essential components

(a) either overwhelming insecurity, which leads individual to overcompensate by striving desperately to outperform everyone, *OR*
overwhelming arrogance and narcissism, which necessitates wrecking the curve to justify the weight of such a massive ego

AND

(b) schadenfreude - delight in the misfortune of others, namely, taking pleasure in beating everyone else, rather than adopting a "hey, we're competing, but we're all in this together" attitude.

See also: Pre-Med Machine.

 

[MonkeyNuts!]

Gunner = Christina from Grey's Anatomy

 

[dwigt]

Gunner is what "B" or "C" students call "A" students

 

[Haemulon]

Gunner: "Hey, don't submit your applications this early. If you wait until your closer to the final dealine, your application will be on top (cause of just being recently received) and will be looked at first. Hope this helps. 😴 "

 

[Aurora013]

The gunners are the ones at our school who:

-ask the professor to repeat an entire 20+ reaction again, just because they're not sure of one of the steps. And if the professor explains just that one step, they need to make sure they know "how it fits into the overall picture."

-get a 98.5 on a test where the average is in the 60s (and final grades are based off of the average), they make it very pointedly known to the entire class that they got gyped out of that point and a half and plan to argue with the professor to get it back.

-spend 10 minutes during the last class before a test asking questions on material the professor repeatedly says won't be tested until the next test

 

[WildTumor]

What's wrong with being ambitious or exceeding minimum requirements? If adcom were to ask if you were ambitious, wouldn't you say so? If they were to ask if you would exceed minimum requirements, I'd hope you do so.

Exceeding minimum requirements is fine, so long as one is not doing so at the expense of classmate.
Down with the gunners.

 

[Haemulon]

An undercover gunner is more subtle though. They want to get ahead while flying under the radar. Pretends to be one of the regular guys or gals, but acts more as a spy. Gathering information to develop strategies and get ahead. Just does not overtly sabotage or draw attention the themselves, but does subtly refrain from offering help or assistance when to his/her advantage. Faining ignorance or pretending to struggle with material only to blow the curve later.

 

[jocg27]

Gunners are, more often than not, people you wouldn't like much anyway, even outside of the med school environment. So if you see him at, say, a bar, you might think "what a tool."

If you see him in class asking some b.s. question about some inane detail of something that the entire class understands only as a big picture and will obviously only be tested as a big picture, and he's clearly asking not because he gives a care in the world about the answer, but because he wants to show the whole class how much more he knows than them, you might think "what a gunner."

(And you still might think "what a tool.")

 

[dantt]

Faining ignorance or pretending to struggle with material only to blow the curve later.

But seriously, what's the better option? I call that keeping modest. I'd be more annoyed at the kid who walks around thinking he's the ****.

 

[g3pro]

Gunner is what "B" or "C" students call "A" students

I'll take the flamebait...

Someone who says "Gunner is what "B" or "C" students call "A" students" is just someone who has a very small penis.

 

[Chris Benoit]

While FrogDoc overgeneralized, it's clearly a widespread phenomenon that students who score lower (and this even extends to A students commenting on the highest scorer) are apt to assume the other guy is a tool with no life and/or a brownnoser rather than admit to others and themselves that said person might just be more intelligent. How's that for a long penis, I mean, sentence [and trust me, I also mean long penis]?

I'll take the flamebait...

Someone who says "Gunner is what "B" or "C" students call "A" students" is just someone who has a very small penis.

 

[Law2Doc]

The gunners are the ones at our school who:

-ask the professor to repeat an entire 20+ reaction again, just because they're not sure of one of the steps. And if the professor explains just that one step, they need to make sure they know "how it fits into the overall picture."

No -- a gunner would actually never do this as it gives too much additional info to his classmates. S/he would focus in on the one thing s/he doesn't know and find a way to cut off the professor if they started explaining the rest. The goal of the gunner is to get the A at the expense of the others. If everyone gets an A the gunner will not be happy. 🙂

 

[RxnMan]

No -- a gunner would actually never do this as it gives too much additional info to his classmates. S/he would focus in on the one thing s/he doesn't know and find a way to cut off the professor if they started explaining the rest. The goal of the gunner is to get the A at the expense of the others. If everyone gets an A the gunner will not be happy. 🙂

Exactly. Gunners use knowledge as a weapon, intimidating and belittling others. You can work hard, know your stuff, get good (or top) grades and not be a gunner, so don't get offended where no insult is intended.

 

[dwigt]

Exactly. Gunners use knowledge as a weapon, intimidating and belittling others. You can work hard, know your stuff, get good (or top) grades and not be a gunner, so don't get offended where no insult is intended.

I agree, but most people don't get this. They see someone with good stats and immediately assume/accuse gunnerness. I recently posted (in the TX interview thread) that I got an interview invite from UTSW 2 days after my app was processed, and someone responded with "Gunner Alert!!!"

 

[Law2Doc]

I agree, but most people don't get this. They see someone with good stats and immediately assume/accuse gunnerness. I recently posted (in the TX interview thread) that I got an interview invite from UTSW 2 days after my app was processed, and someone responded with "Gunner Alert!!!"

That a word is often misused by folks not in the know does not negate the negative connotation it carries.

 

[MU.Redskin]

While we waste time on SDN, the Gunner is both surpassing us all in status and knowledge. The gunner will get the derm or plastics residency while we argue about why its a hard position to get.

THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS, aka the Machiavellian pre-med machine.

 

[Looque]

While we waste time on SDN, the Gunner is both surpassing us all in status and knowledge. The gunner will get the derm or plastics residency while we argue about why its a hard position to get.

THE END JUSTIFIES THE MEANS, aka the Machiavellian pre-med machine.

Nice, a fellow Miamian.

 

[RxnMan]

I agree, but most people don't get this. They see someone with good stats and immediately assume/accuse gunnerness. I recently posted (in the TX interview thread) that I got an interview invite from UTSW 2 days after my app was processed, and someone responded with "Gunner Alert!!!"

At one point or another, it is advantageous to grow a thick skin. And an electronic response from an anonymous and random 'ghost' of the Internet is an easy thing to brush off.

 

[dwigt]

At one point or another, it is advantageous to grow a thick skin. And an electronic response from an anonymous and random 'ghost' of the Internet is an easy thing to brush off.

Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't whining, just citing an example relevant to the discussion. You could call me a dick to my face and I would laugh at you. I know what I am.

 

[g3pro]

Thanks for the advice, but I wasn't whining, just citing an example relevant to the discussion. You could call me a dick to my face and I would laugh at you. I know what I am.

You're not a dick! Remember, you don't have one!

😛 😉 😍 😛

 

[MercuryX]

another word for gunner is "Cornell premed"

Agreed! I only had 1 close pre-med friend, the rest were so annoying. I'm so glad i only had to take orgo with them, phew. 😎

 

[dwigt]

You're not a dick! Remember, you don't have one!

😛 😉 😍 😛

Hey, just because it's small doesn't mean it's not there.

 

[Depakote]

Early signs of gunnerdom:

When you were an infant and your mother sang the "The head bone is connected to the Neck bone" song, you made her sing all 206 bones in the human body.

 

[PsychEpathic]

I don't mind the gunner-types so much if they do really well on exams, etc. The people who piss me off are the ones who ask all sorts of stupid questions (and appear to be understanding everything), and then tank on tests. They just totally waste everyone's time 😡!

 

[Law2Doc]

I don't mind the gunner-types so much if they do really well on exams, etc. The people who piss me off are the ones who ask all sorts of stupid questions (and appear to be understanding everything), and then tank on tests. They just totally waste everyone's time 😡!

If they don't capitalize on wasting everyones time, they are not gunners, just dim. You need to learn compassion for the dim.

 

[PsychEpathic]

If they don't capitalize on wasting everyones time, they are not gunners, just dim. You need to learn compassion for the dim.

 

[Depakote]

If they don't capitalize on wasting everyones time, they are not gunners, just dim. You need to learn compassion for the dim.

As long as they're trying...

I had orgo/biochem with the Biomajors where I did my postbac. "Is this going to be on the test?" anytime the prof decided to mention an interesting correllation... if the answer was "no" there was a dramatic slamming-shut of the notebook that could only be surpassed by the dramatic complaining about the quality of the professor once the test-grades came out.

No real compassion there.

 

[jocg27]

I don't mind the gunner-types so much if they do really well on exams, etc. The people who piss me off are the ones who ask all sorts of stupid questions (and appear to be understanding everything), and then tank on tests. They just totally waste everyone's time 😡!

Yeah I hate those people too!

Damn people asking questions then doing bad on the tests! Total tools...


🙄

 

[PsychEpathic]

Yeah I hate those people too!

Damn people asking questions then doing bad on the tests! Total tools...


🙄

Hey, I'm not talking about people who ask reasonable questions! I'm talking about people who ask questions that are not pertinent to the topic being discussed.

 

[RxnMan]

Hey, I'm not talking about people who ask reasonable questions! I'm talking about people who ask questions that are not pertinent to the topic being discussed.

Yeah - the guys who asked convoluted questions requiring five minutes to ask and ten minutes to answer, two minutes before the class ended. We had one in a bunch of our classes and we referred to him (creatively) as "Question Boy." I later asked him why he did it. He said that he honestly thought he was asking things that other people wanted to know, and not stealing from his classmates' lives, one question at a time.

I had orgo/biochem with the Biomajors where I did my postbac. "Is this going to be on the test?" anytime the prof decided to mention an interesting correllation... if the answer was "no" there was a dramatic slamming-shut of the notebook that could only be surpassed by the dramatic complaining about the quality of the professor once the test-grades came out.

The professor's mistake was answering the question truthfully.

 

[Law2Doc]

I had orgo/biochem with the Biomajors where I did my postbac. "Is this going to be on the test?" anytime the prof decided to mention an interesting correllation... if the answer was "no" there was a dramatic slamming-shut of the notebook that could only be surpassed by the dramatic complaining about the quality of the professor once the test-grades came out.

No real compassion there.

I had a professor whose canned response to that question was always "It may be now". That tends to shut people up once they see the pattern.

 

[dantt]

Those students who had already planned every step between college and residency before entering college.

 

[Haemulon]

You know what I hate worse than gunners? Gunner-wannabe's. They actually think they are really the $h!^, yet are amazing in their incompetance. Combination of aggrevating, sad, and amusing.

 

[PsychEpathic]

You know what I hate worse than gunners? Gunner-wannabe's. They actually think they are really the $h!^, yet are amazing in their incompetance. Combination of aggrevating, sad, and amusing.

Agreed.

 

[Ari Gold]

Those students who had already planned every step between college and residency before entering college.

you mean this kid- http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=3980254&postcount=1 ?

 

[MU.Redskin]

you mean this kid- http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=3980254&postcount=1 ?

wow.

new rule: don't post the date+eventual specialty in your sig before you hit the age of 18

 

[Depakote]

wow.

new rule: don't post the date+eventual specialty in your sig before you hit the age of 18

Wow, that is really sad... can't wait until he hits his first bump in the road.

Any takers on if he'll change the date in his sig or just totally meltdown?

 

[maestro1625]

if you were ever voted "most likely to succeed" in high school... god I hated those people.

 

[Haemulon]

The true gunner would lobby for and be president of their highschool pre-pre-med club.

 

[maestro1625]

The true gunner would lobby for and be president of their highschool pre-pre-med club.

nice one. of course you can fill out the vice president/secretaries of the [insert useless resume whoring greek letter honorary] in college too.

 

[bioboy2007]

You know what I hate worse than gunners? Gunner-wannabe's. They actually think they are really the $h!^, yet are amazing in their incompetance. Combination of aggrevating, sad, and amusing.

 

[Booney44]

you mean this kid- http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showpost.php?p=3980254&postcount=1 ?

This kid was born in 1989?!?!? I am freakin' old now.

Hasn't even set foot in his first bio/chem class... at least this person knows what he wants, right?

Maybe we should put bets on this person's imminent success/failure...

 

[DrBowtie]

wow.

new rule: don't post the date+eventual specialty in your sig before you hit the age of 18

That was my suggestion. I thought you all might have liked that humor 🙂.

 

[dantt]

Wow, that is really sad... can't wait until he hits his first bump in the road.

Any takers on if he'll change the date in his sig or just totally meltdown?

Isn't it how sad we wish certan people don't succeed? I know I'm guilty of it.

*edit*

I hope that doesn't make me a gunner