Not really, at least I roll my eyes at them. They "compete" with themselves, but the people who are cuttthroat and think it's a big competition and the people who are extreme for no reason. It's just med school(which I know you don't overly compete against others, but saying as a general statement) As you know, there is NO WAY you have to compete with others, unless that person is paranoid. Thankfully, those people are rare in med school. Also, they suck because if they were smart or did well, they don't have to worry about competing, which is what the "gunners" always worried about. Just work hard and be normal. 😀
Yes, extremes may be rare, such as the article above, but competition itself is nature. Plenty of students
do secretly compete with one another, regardless of what we believe. Why do you think P/F is nice, as is not being graded relative to classmates? A big part is because we naturally compare ourselves to others. In our profession, suicide and depression are high, and are often contributed to individuals feeling incompetent/imposters relative to others. This is actually a major issue. Students may not take it to the extreme on the outside, but even amongst friends, scores in school are often the most common way for young individuals to define themselves, and therefore, lower scores relative to peers often have psychological side effects. As you get older and more into training, sure, you learn to let go. But keep in mind that many students are fresh out of college, where they just spent years avoiding being weeded out, or being beaten by the curve.
Of course, there are always external factors to take into consideration, but competition among students is not a "rare" thing. You may be
collegial with your classmates, even the best of friends. But as I originally said, there are plenty of students with insecurities, imposter/inferiority syndromes and complexes, who are historically used to competing and defining themselves by their achievements. Regardless of how they come across on the outside.
Also, you cannot say that "they suck because if they were smart or did well, they don't have to worry about competing". In fact, very intelligent people are often the
most likely to compete, because they are consistently aware of
how much they do not know. They think up intricate problems and situations for which they don't know the answers, and freak out. They remember minute details and problems that others won't even think of, and they worry that everybody around them knows the answers, are they are the only ones left in the dark. They tend to be deep thinkers, who often understand, process, and apply information
very well. They're just too neurotic.
Roll your eyes, call them paranoid, it's all the same. It doesn't change the fact that many humans compare themselves to others, worry about not achieving certain standards, have a deep-rooted fear of failure and inadequacy/insecurity, and often show no obvious external indicators. Not everybody that competes is a gunner. Competition is normal. I would disagree with you to say that there is no competition, or, that there's no way we have to compete with others. Sometimes we do; just not necessarily in the ways we expect people to, such as poisoning or screwing people over in other ways.
