What he describes to me is competition for the sake of competition, and not having any goals.

I'm also 22 like the author, and I realized a long time ago that I had no interest in competing in things I didn't care about.

I was in the top class at my secondary school (High school for you Americans) and easily got above average marks while doing work 1yr ahead with not much effort. I really didn't see the point in grinding for top marks when they were meaningless, but I put in a little effort because I felt like it's what I should be doing.

At uni, I managed to scrape by for a couple of years doing little work and getting C- to B- marks mostly. Again, doing it because it's what I thought I should be doing and I felt obligated to go to university and get an engineering degree since that's what smart people are supposed to do.

I dropped out when I realized that I had been following the path I was "supposed" to take rather than what I wanted to do.

It sounds like OP finally chose a path instead of just following the one that was laid out for him.

Note: I don't live in the US