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Overcoming Imposter Syndrome

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Learn about imposter syndrome, how to identify it in yourself, and the steps you can take to ameliorate feeling like “imposter” at Stanford.

Thursday, February 4, 4:00-5:00 PM PST
This workshop is open to all Stanford students

Zoom Recording


About this Event

Everyone, especially at Stanford, can occasionally feel like they are out their depth. Everyone works on hard topics and explores novel areas that can seem impossible to fully understand. Simultaneously, it can seem like your classmates and colleagues perfectly understand all the topics that you struggle with. Sometimes this feeling can persist causing a person to doubt their skills, talents and accomplishments, even affecting their work. This feeling is known as Imposter Syndrome and can especially affect those that come from underrepresented and minority groups. In this workshop, we will talk about imposter syndrome, how we can identify this false feeling in ourselves, and how to ameliorate its effects on our work. We will go through several different research studies about the best methods of dealing with Imposter Syndrome including that of Clance et al., Kolligan et. al, and Mullangi et al.

After this workshop students should be able to:

  • Define what imposter syndrome is and some of its more deleterious effect
  • Identify imposter syndrome in themselves and others and separate this feeling from a desire to ‘simply get up to speed’
  • Use the tools and research presented to help ameliorate feelings of being an ‘imposter’

This workshop is presented as part of the Peer Learning Consultant Program at the Center for Teaching and Learning. For more information about the program and upcoming events, visit studentlearning.stanford.edu.