Imposter Syndrome

Notes

behavioral health phenomenon - self doubt of intellect, skills or accomplishments among high achieving individuals.

Your peers are selected for excellence: The acceptance rate for HCI/D at IUB was around 32% for my profile . Class size is around 55-60 . To get accepted in such a competitive program already feels like an accomplishment but no wonder all other applicants who got in are very competitive . They have amazing track record with many accomplishments, which is naturally intimidating.
An unfair comparison: Increasingly often, we only look at someone’s accomplishments, their “highlight reel”, if you will. We rarely ever see their failures and their struggles. You know your own accomplishments, but you also know your own short-comings. Thus, your lack of complete information on your peers makes you feel inferior.
They speak at a high level: If your peers converse with you, they may assume you have a high level of understanding, making you feel underprepared.

They are your peers : Your peers might be top students, but so are you. You are one of them. There’s no way you could have gotten there “by accident”. As mentioned in the webinar they selected students who had the hunger to learn which I must have showcased and got in.
Your peers feel the same way about you : Most of your peers only see your “highlight reel”. You are intimidating to them! I never realized this haha
You speak at a high level too: If you feel inferior to your peers (even if unjustifiable), a defence mechanism is to speak to impress. You make assumptions about which concepts your peers know and often give them too much credit, therefore, they have a hard time following you (but might not show it).

NOTE

It’s important that I mention the subjects I have knowledge and comment on those . Learn and share my thoughts later.

Specialization: You may gravitate toward topics where your knowledge is very deep. Your peers may falsely assume that your knowledge is deeper in more areas than it actually is.

Realize it is normal: Imposter syndrome actually occurs in the best and most self-aware students. I am one of them and my feelings are totally normal.
“Fake it”: Simply put, don’t remove yourself from interacting with your peers due to your feelings of inadequacy. Just fake it, be social. It will give you the chance to see what your peers are really like and eventually you see that everyone has flaws. Also, work to improve your knowledge and skills
Avoid comparing yourself to others: There are many ways to be successful in graduate school and go on to an amazing career. Instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on what makes you unique. Find your own voice!
I really need to work on this . This is one of the things and is stopping me from experimenting, failing, learning . Need to overcome this feeling
Talk to senior students: Should reach out to seniors when I go to the university.