Imposter Syndrome at University: What It Is and What Helps

First week of the seminar. Everyone else seems to have read the extra chapter, uses words you had to look up, and asks questions that sound clever. You sit there thinking that admissions made a mistake, and that it's only a matter of time before someone notices.

Your last essay got a good mark, but that doesn't count. The marker was generous. You got lucky.

Where the term comes from

Psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes described the "impostor phenomenon" in 1978. Over five years they had worked with more than 150 highly successful women in therapy, groups and college classes, including undergraduates, graduate students, medical students and faculty. Despite degrees, honors and high test scores, these women believed they weren't really bright and had fooled everyone who thought otherwise (Clance & Imes, 1978).

Students featured heavily. Clance and Imes reported students imagining they had been admitted because of an error by the admissions committee, and graduate students putting high exam scores down to luck or misgrading.

They also described a cycle that will sound familiar during exam season: worry about being found out, overwork to prevent it, get a good grade, feel relief for a short while, and then the doubt returns. The good grade never counts as evidence, because the overwork gets the credit.

Their paper was clinical observation, not a controlled study. It named the experience; it didn't measure it.

How common is it?

The best overview is a systematic review of 62 studies with 14,161 participants (Bravata et al., 2020). About half of those studies were of students. The key findings:

• Reported rates ranged from 9 to 82%. The range is wide because studies used different questionnaires and different cutoffs. Counting only intense feelings gives a low number; counting any feeling at all gives a high one.
• It isn't limited to women. It was common in both men and women, and across ages from adolescents to late-career professionals. Rates were particularly high among ethnic minority groups.
• It often comes with depression and anxiety, and was linked to burnout and lower job satisfaction in working adults.
• It isn't a recognized psychiatric disorder, and it isn't listed in the diagnostic manuals.
• At the time of the review, no published studies had tested treatments for it.

So it's common enough that you are very unlikely to be the only one in your seminar feeling it, but nobody has a single reliable percentage.

Why university makes it louder

University puts you next to a lot of capable people, and you only see their outside: the confident question, the finished essay. You see all of your own inside: the confusion, the three drafts. Comparing your process to their results will make anyone feel behind. And if every good mark gets explained away as luck, no number of good marks will feel like proof.

What helps: check the feeling against evidence

1. Write the thought down exactly. "I only passed statistics because the exam was easy." On paper, it's easier to examine.
2. Keep a short record of feedback, and of how you dismissed it. Clance and Imes gave clients this exact exercise: note the positive feedback you receive and how you kept yourself from accepting it. Seeing the pattern written down makes it harder to keep doing.
3. Test yourself instead of asking yourself. "Do I really understand this?" invites a feeling. A past-paper question, done closed-book and marked against the scheme, gives you an answer. More on active recall.
4. Tell one person. Clance and Imes found group settings especially useful: when one person shared the feeling, others did too, and they were relieved to find they weren't alone. A study group, a friend on your course or a tutor counts.
5. If it's heavy, talk to student support. If the feeling is there most days, keeps you from going to class or handing work in, or comes with low mood or anxiety that doesn't lift, your university's counseling or student support service is the right place to take it. That is what they're there for.

What we don't claim

• That "70% of people" have imposter syndrome. This number is repeated widely, but we couldn't trace it to a solid study. The best review found rates from 9 to 82%, depending on the measure.
• That it's a diagnosis, or that there's a proven treatment. It isn't a recognized disorder, and the major review found no published treatment studies.
• That there are five fixed "types" of imposter. The perfectionist, expert and similar types come from a popular book. We didn't find research testing them as distinct categories, so we've left them out.
• That it's simply the opposite of the Dunning-Kruger effect. Both involve misjudging yourself, but they come from different research.

FAQ

Is imposter syndrome a mental illness?

No. It isn't a recognized psychiatric disorder, and it isn't in the diagnostic manuals. It is a pattern of thinking that can sit alongside anxiety or depression, which is why it's worth talking to someone when it's heavy.

How common is imposter syndrome among students?

Very common, but there is no single reliable figure. Studies report anywhere from 9 to 82% depending on the questionnaire and cutoff, and about half of the research has been done with students.

Is it "imposter" or "impostor" syndrome?

Both spellings are used. Clance and Imes wrote about the "impostor phenomenon"; "imposter syndrome" is the more common everyday term.

How do I stop feeling like an imposter at university?

You may not switch the feeling off, but you can stop it making decisions for you. Write the thought down, check it against concrete evidence, and tell someone you trust. If it's affecting daily life, talk to your university's support service.

Keep reading

• The Dunning-Kruger effect: what it means for your exams
• Growth mindset: what the research actually shows
• Active recall: the study technique most students skip

---

Repeatica is the agentic study space for students. Put everything from your courses in one place. Repeatica gets you through the exam, and makes sure you keep what you learned. Learn it once.

Sources

• Bravata, D. M., Watts, S. A., Keefer, A. L., Madhusudhan, D. K., Taylor, K. T., Clark, D. M., Nelson, R. S., Cokley, K. O., & Hagg, H. K. (2020). Prevalence, predictors, and treatment of impostor syndrome: A systematic review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 35(4), 1252-1275. doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05364-1
• Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 15(3), 241-247. doi.org/10.1037/h0086006