New Places New Faces

It has been 1.5 weeks since I started my Anesthesiology rotation at UTSW. I was very stressed out and wallowed in self doubt my first week here. Its not that I don't like Anesthesia. I have come to love and know without a doubt this is what I would like to do. However the environment here is ultracompetitive. The UTSW kids bring their A game every day. They to me from the view of an outsider exude intelligence, confidence, and a nature of competitiveness. What do I mean by their gunner-esque qualities. Well for one thing they "shot gun" attendings, like people call shot gun for the front seat of a car.. ie tell the other students that this is their attending for the day as to claim one attending to themselves and to have the other students back off. I find this a little to the extreme.

Mind you these are very successful students and they most likely can get into any residency program anywhere. They are the "package" ie...research since first year of medical school, extracurricular activities packed0 resume, and each have some interesting background whether they have either another degree ie masters, or have some former career. I would say a large percentage of them have been to prestigious colleges outside of Texas. Don't get me wrong not everyone is like this but the few that I have encountered in my rotation are crazy gunners.

My second issue after my inferiority complex is about illusions. Illusions of what might you say? Answer: People. The program coordinator here plays himself to be a people oriented, med student loving, teaching type of person. As I came to work this person this far from true. What I found is that this administrator plays favorites with UTSW kids and brushes other med students off, myself and and another visiting medical student can vouch for this. I spent the first week feeling like an unwelcomed guest very unsure myself. Being here has made me wonder what have I done the last 4 years?

The second illusion. People quickly lose their defenses after a few days. Another visiting medical student from Virginia Osteo school very amicable but soon learn this person is very much a kiss ass. He spends significant amount of time asking some questions that can be found in a textbook and attempts to talk to attendings about their interests ie boating, investments ect. These conversations are for the most part seem forced onto the attending. Most of the time it seems alot of questions are just ways to get attention. My question is do attendings see thorough this attempt of kissing-ass?