Gunner. GUN-ner. noun: Considered by most to be the most annoying type of medical student, a gunner is a student that is "gunning" for a residency and willing to do whatever (they think) it takes to get said residency.
I am not a gunner.
If anyone would like to see that my grades bear this out--I'd gladly put my Z scores up here. You would not be impressed, which isn't to say they are abysmal, but enough about me.
Why defend the gunners, you ask. They are probably already busy defending themselves at this very moment to one of their annoyed classmates--why stand up for them?
Here's a confession: I hated gunners. I hated how anytime there was anyone with any clout who spoke to us, the gunner(s) of the classroom would be sure to ask them limitless amounts of questions just so that the would stick out from the class. I hated how I could study most of the time most of the days of the week and I was still just an average student because of the 1/4 of my class does absolutely nothing but study, sleep, and eat (while we're on the topic, I hated that people could openly mention that they studied way less than me and still did better on a test). I hated how obvious gunners would make their "networking" with doctors, other med students, etc. It got to a point that I even nicknamed one of the gunners in my class Verizon Wireless (it's the network).
Here's the one thing that I can say I respect about gunners: they know what they want, and though they probably aren't going about it the best way, they are doing what they think it takes to get what they want.
Here is the type of "gunner" that I can (almost) like: He (or she) is certain that he wants to get into a difficult residency, e.g. derm, plastics, ortho. Because of this he realizes that he definitely can't completely let grades go by the wayside, but at the same time he has friends, a life, and is seen at the medical school on non-test days. Rather than annoying everyone else by monopolizing a speaker's time, or being the first to answer all of the questions in class, he gets to know doctors on their own time, or talks to the speaker after words (although too much of this would be borderline :)
To summarize, actual outright gunning is annoying and is a great way to alienate your friends (that you won't have for long), but those that are simply pursuing what dreams they have I can respect. The difference is true gunners take satisfaction in being thought of as a gunner, while the others would just be content to be in whatever specialty they like when they finish medical school.
I am not a gunner.
If anyone would like to see that my grades bear this out--I'd gladly put my Z scores up here. You would not be impressed, which isn't to say they are abysmal, but enough about me.
Why defend the gunners, you ask. They are probably already busy defending themselves at this very moment to one of their annoyed classmates--why stand up for them?
Here's a confession: I hated gunners. I hated how anytime there was anyone with any clout who spoke to us, the gunner(s) of the classroom would be sure to ask them limitless amounts of questions just so that the would stick out from the class. I hated how I could study most of the time most of the days of the week and I was still just an average student because of the 1/4 of my class does absolutely nothing but study, sleep, and eat (while we're on the topic, I hated that people could openly mention that they studied way less than me and still did better on a test). I hated how obvious gunners would make their "networking" with doctors, other med students, etc. It got to a point that I even nicknamed one of the gunners in my class Verizon Wireless (it's the network).
Here's the one thing that I can say I respect about gunners: they know what they want, and though they probably aren't going about it the best way, they are doing what they think it takes to get what they want.
Here is the type of "gunner" that I can (almost) like: He (or she) is certain that he wants to get into a difficult residency, e.g. derm, plastics, ortho. Because of this he realizes that he definitely can't completely let grades go by the wayside, but at the same time he has friends, a life, and is seen at the medical school on non-test days. Rather than annoying everyone else by monopolizing a speaker's time, or being the first to answer all of the questions in class, he gets to know doctors on their own time, or talks to the speaker after words (although too much of this would be borderline :)
To summarize, actual outright gunning is annoying and is a great way to alienate your friends (that you won't have for long), but those that are simply pursuing what dreams they have I can respect. The difference is true gunners take satisfaction in being thought of as a gunner, while the others would just be content to be in whatever specialty they like when they finish medical school.
"People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." -Richard Nixon
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