How to deal with competition

[Ginger Ale]

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Although competition drives us to work harder, it also has a really ugly side. I'm starting to feel run down and a little jaded when it comes to school work since I feel like my grades are pretty low compared to my peers, who seem to naturally and effortlessly get high A's. At this point in the semester, I just want to make it through and hopefully get low A's in all my classes.
I'm not really sure how to deal with my low feelings.
Hopefully some of y'all can shed some wisdom on this issue. I'm sorry if I'm the 1 millionth premed to be jaded and discouraged.

-Ginger Ale

 

[LetMeBeADoc]

Although competition drives us to work harder, it also has a really ugly side. I'm starting to feel run down and a little jaded when it comes to school work since I feel like my grades are pretty low compared to my peers, who seem to naturally and effortlessly get high A's. At this point in the semester, I just want to make it through and hopefully get low A's in all my classes.
I'm not really sure how to deal with my low feelings.
Hopefully some of y'all can shed some wisdom on this issue. I'm sorry if I'm the 1 millionth premed to be jaded and discouraged.

-Ginger Ale

It doesn't matter if an A is high or low - counts the same.

Also, I am sure it is not as effortless for others as it may seem.

 

[CaptainSSO]

What do other people's grades have to do with yours?

I don't necessarily see how people in your class are the "competition."

You aren't competing with them, you're doing your own work.

 

[poorman]

Just push through it. Each semester has its ups and downs, and you're probably in a particularly rough part. It might be an unpleasant couple of days, or even a crappy week or two, but you'll eventually hit an easier stretch where you can catch your breath. There might be days when you feel like you have an impossibly large amount of work to get through, but budget your time out wisely and you'll be fine. It might be exhausting, but there's really no better feeling than collapsing into your bed at the end of a rough day/night, knowing that you've accomplished everything you've set out to do that day. As has been said, don't focus so much on what everyone else is doing. Set goals for yourself and work toward them.

Keep your chin up. The work ethic you assimilate here is what will propel you through med school.

 

[MiniMoo]

I understand where you're coming from, because I used to be the same way when I first started undergrad -- constantly comparing my accomplishments with those of others. You've got to just focus on yourself though, because there will always be people better and smarter than you, and you will drive yourself into insanity and/or depression if you aren't able to accept that and adapt accordingly. Not trying to be mean, just stating a fact. The medical and pre-med community is full of very intelligent people. You (and myself included) are not going to be at the top of the pile (although A-'s are nothing to laugh at either -- great job!). Learn to gain happiness from your own achievements, whatever they may be, and bettering yourself in different ways.

Note: Also those people who say they never study and always get A's? They're likely the people that never go out, don't have a social life, and lie about the amount they study in order to stress others out. Srsly. Ignore them.

 

[Bernoull]

My take on competition has always been don't do it!! Rather than worrying about others and getting negative, depressed, jealous ( someone will always outdo you in everything) just focus on urself and try to be the BEST individual u're CAPABLE of being. This way u're ur own metric rather than some random guy/gal. For school know what ur grading policy is n work hard to get the best grade u can get, irrexpective of wat others do. It's a simple philosophy, u'll likely be content with ur achievements if u did ur best and u won't have the stress of worry about every other person. So intra-competition not inter-competition.


GL

 

[FluffyRabbit]

Note: Also those people who say they never study at always get A's? They're likely the people that never go out, don't have a social life, and lie about the amount they study in order to stress others out. Srsly. Ignore them.

Either they are remarkably brilliant (unlikely), your school is ridiculously easy (doesn't seem like it), they are cheating (hope not), or they aren't really as lazy as you think.

If I do better than you on an exam, it's much more impressive to claim that I spent no effort than to admit that I spent five hours more than you studying. I can never understand why people bother with that, though...

 

[SabC]

Although competition drives us to work harder, it also has a really ugly side. I'm starting to feel run down and a little jaded when it comes to school work since I feel like my grades are pretty low compared to my peers, who seem to naturally and effortlessly get high A's. At this point in the semester, I just want to make it through and hopefully get low A's in all my classes.
I'm not really sure how to deal with my low feelings.
Hopefully some of y'all can shed some wisdom on this issue. I'm sorry if I'm the 1 millionth premed to be jaded and discouraged.

-Ginger Ale

Stop comparing yourself to your peers. 😛

Srsly. You don't really know what people are doing or not doing. It just doesn't matter how effortless it is for so and so to get an A in Chem or how much or little they study, I have to bust my ass and nothing they are doing or not doing is going to change that for me. Worrying about crap like that is just distraction I don't need.

I like competition and I am very motivated by it, but I compete with a perfect score not someone else's score.

 

[marble30]

If I do better than you on an exam, it's much more impressive to claim that I spent no effort than to admit that I spent five hours more than you studying. I can never understand why people bother with that, though...

This.

 

[SabC]

If I do better than you on an exam, it's much more impressive to claim that I spent no effort than to admit that I spent five hours more than you studying. I can never understand why people bother with that, though...

Because the question is tiresome and annoying. It's like being asked how you lost weight. It's always the same people asking the same question after every exam. They don't want to hear how much you had to work, they don't want to know how to improve they just want to be reassured they can't.

(That's not directed at the op)

 

[austinap]

Here's my perspective, take it or leave it: the most successful people I've met were in competition only with themselves. If you strive to do your personal best on everything, pretty soon you'll realize that you're outdoing everyone else anyways without really competing with them.

Furthermore, this within-school competition **** is ridiculous. It benefits you all if you work together and motivate one another. Don't buy in to petty BS between classmates. Who cares if you outscore (or if they outscore you) on a given exam. Those metrics are pretty meaningless in the big picture, and if you're use such comparisons, you're at risk of becoming a very miserable person when you inevitably find a group of people that you can't consistently "beat".

 

[Hifey]

I'm not a naturally competitive person and it really pisses me off when people try to set themselves up against me when I do well. I use the competition to motivate myself to work hard when I want to slack off and study when I want to procrastinate. However, I do not compete with my grades. My grades reflect my understanding and hard work just like yours do yours. You're getting As! Thats great! Be proud of the work you do and try to improve yourself. Don't compare yourself to others at all, just use the "competition" to motivate you when you don't feel like working hard. Good luck! Seriously though, you're doing fine.

 

[FloatOn]

Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses. Set your own standards and stop comparing yourself to others.