Many students – and professors, and alumni – have faced impostor syndrome, the feeling of self-doubt and fraudulence that can convince you you don’t belong at a university. And they’re sharing their tips with us on how best to move past it, so you can, too!
Tip # 1 comes from Karin Jeffrey, senior lecturer in psychology and sociology. If you’re suffering from impostor syndrome, talk about it!
“If you name impostor syndrome and actually call it what it is, it becomes less of a deep, dark secret,” says Jeffery. “And as soon as you talk openly about it, you discover that it's not unique to you.”
Serena Ortiz, ’22 BS, ’24 MS Biology, offers tip # 2 on how best to combat impostor syndrome: Fake it till you make it!
As she explains, even while suffering from impostor syndrome, “I just kept putting my all into my lab work and my science. And eventually I became the person that I was really wanting to become. I think I pretended to be her until she was finally actualized. And that was when a lot of these negative thoughts started silencing themselves.”
She went on to become lab director in the lab of Katie Wilkinson, professor of biological sciences. She won the CSUBiotech Eden Graduate Student Researcher Award. And her experience with impostor syndrome over the years has become easier to handle, partly because of these outward successes.
Check out the latest #SJSUWSQ for more on impostor syndrome and how to move past it, including resources and more tips.