It is not at all easy to obtain a PhD. The road to completion is riddled with potholes of all shapes and sizes, and if you’re not careful, you might hit one that makes you a complete write-off. From feeling demoralised following rejection after rejection, to feeling burnout, it’s a wonder anyone makes it there at all.

I think one of the biggest problems that many grad students face, however, is feeling like they don’t deserve to be there. Imposter syndrome can often creep in and take root. It saps your confidence, your creativity, your ambition. You are plagued by feelings of inadequacy: a better qualified person deserved this PhD more than me; students would get a better education if I wasn’t the one teaching their tutorials; everything I create is utter crap. 

Below this, runs an undercurrent of feeling like you don’t belong. Any day now, your subpar standards will be uncovered and your place in the programme will be revoked. Honestly, every day feels like a miracle when my ID card still lets me swipe into the library. Have you ever googled “percentage of students kicked off PhD programme”? I have.

While imposter syndrome often invokes feelings of isolation, you are not alone. I’ve spoken to a lot of students who have experienced it at one time or another. Many admitted they were still floundering in the metaphorical mud; it made them feel stuck and unable to move forward with their work. I can understand this. I find that I don’t push myself because I’m scared I’ll fail, and the more I fail, the more proof there is that I shouldn’t be here. 

All these feelings that you have are completely unfounded, though. Many people that also feel this way are the most accomplished students I know. They, along with their research, are an asset to their university. I appreciate that simply being told this doesn’t make the bad feelings miraculously disappear; life would be a lot simpler if that’s how things worked. 

I think that talking about imposter syndrome with other people will help lessen the impact of this particular obstacle. It can be scary opening up and admitting you feel like a bit of a fraud. But having a strong network to support you through periods of self-doubt really helps. It’s good to have other people remind you that you deserve to be there, otherwise the bad thoughts can often take over, and you forget all the amazing things you’ve achieved. 

The biggest piece of advice that I think I can give PhD students though, would be to simply remember that we are students. We feel the need to already know everything we’re supposed to be learning during our degree. We were not chosen for the programme because we were already fully fledged academics, but rather because of our potential to become one. Failure and mistakes are an inevitable part of the journey. We shouldn’t look upon them as a reflection of our unchangeable ability, but instead as an opportunity to learn and improve. Mistakes don’t mean that we don’t belong, they just mean that we’re human.