My experience with imposter syndrome - and how to (partly) overcome it

Abstract

I’ve felt like an imposter since my first year of university. I was accepted to the university that I believed was well out of my league - my ‘stretch’ school. I’d gotten good grades in high school, but I’d never seen myself as especially smart: I wasn’t selected for gifted programmes in elementary school like some of my friends were, and my standardised test scores were in the bottom half of those attending my university. I was pretty confident I got into the university because of some fluke in the system (my top hypothesis was that I was admitted as part of an affirmative action initiative) - and that belief stayed with me (and was amplified) during the decade that followed.