PA SSOVE R SE DE R
2A — Monday, April 22, 2019
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
News
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After getting her ACT scores
back, Hancock decided to relin-
quish her dreams of back-spotting
a basket toss and set her sights on
a more academic path: the Univer-
sity of Michigan. Yet her decision
was met with hesitation from her
peers, parents and even her teach-
ers, causing her to fully realize the
“name that Michigan carries.”
“A lot of the teachers that I came
across when I told them about
my plans were kind of like ‘Oh
wow, really? That’s kind of a reach
school,’” Hancock said. “Not a lot of
people from my school move on to
bigger name schools. An important
professional at the school pulled me
aside and told me, ‘I think it’s good
that you’re going to Michigan, but
I think you need to be ready and
aware that you’re going to go from
being top to the middle or bottom.’
It seemed like really good realistic
advice then, but now that I think
about it, it feels like it was really dis-
counting. I went to a small school
where they weren’t prepared to
prepare to students to strive for
more. So, I think that kind of set me
up for feeling a little anxious here.”
Hancock is not the only student
harboring anxieties about being in
“the middle or bottom.” Accord-
ing to the survey of 400 students
conducted by The Michigan Daily,
87.9 percent of undergraduates said
they often compare their academic
ability to those around them.
By
attending
a
university
ranked fourth in “Best Public Uni-
versities,” 20th in the world for
research-intensive universities and
one which routinely generates cap-
tains of industry, Nobel laureates
and Hollywood elites, Hancock
wondered: How can you not have
imposter syndrome?
“You look at that student and
think, ‘Holy cow, how are you
so smart? How are you doing so
much? How are you on the execu-
tive board of six different organiza-
tions?’” Hancock said. “It kind of
makes you feel like shit. I’m strug-
gling to sometimes remember to
take a shower.”
The students polled by The
Daily reported symptoms of impos-
ter syndrome, a term coined by
psychologists Pauline Clance and
Suzanne Imes in 1978. Imposter
syndrome refers to the feeling of
“phoniness in people who believe
that they are not intelligent, capable
or creative despite evidence of high
achievement.” While these people
are “highly motivated to achieve,”
they regularly “live in fear of being
‘found out’ or exposed as frauds.”
Overall, Hancock said imposter
syndrome affects her day to day
life, hindering her ability to suc-
ceed at the University.
“I feel like there has not been
enough acknowledgement of the
impact it can have,” Hancock said.
“I feel like for me at least it might
be a combination of other things,
but it’s had a big impact on my men-
tal health and just my hope for the
future. When you believe that you
don’t belong here, you don’t believe
that it is going to give you the poten-
tial to be great.”
Counseling and Psychological
Services psychologist Dr. Chris-
tine Asidao has recently noticed
a growing trend among students
with symptoms of the imposter
syndrome.
“It’s
not
typically
students
directly say they have impos-
ter syndrome — it’s typically
the qualities that I see such
as feeling inadequate, maybe
having experiences of just low
self-confidence, low self-worth,
there’s a lot of social compari-
son,” Asidao said. “Thinking
about the motto of the univer-
sity: leaders and best. Does that
mean everyone can be a leader
and everyone can be the best?”
Socioeconomic status can
also heighten the impact of
imposter
syndrome.
Every
semester since her freshman
year Hancock has worked a
part-time job. For three years,
Hancock operated as an assis-
tant manager at a bar, serving
drinks from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m.
multiple days a week. During foot-
ball seasons, she said would work
up to six days a week.
“I actually feel like I don’t think
I made it work that well,” Han-
cock said. “My grades went down.
They’ve gotten way better this
semester, as it’s the first semester I
haven’t worked since my freshman
year. For me, that’s cold hard evi-
dence that having to work in order
to survive is not really beneficial for
students here.”
Hancock is also a residential
adviser at Bursley Residence Hall,
a position she said she took to com-
pensate for the lack of affordable
housing in Ann Arbor.
In The Daily’s survey, 68.1 per-
cent of respondents from house-
holds with a yearly income of less
than $100,000 said they found it
challenging to accept compliments,
compared to half of respondents
with a yearly family income of
$100,000-200,000 and only 35.9
percent of those whose families
made more than $200,000 a year.
Paired with a lack of interest
and insufficient funding for books,
Hancock said she felt discouraged
and switched her focus from pre-
med to gender and health.
“I had a hard time thinking of
being this put-together profes-
sional when I kind of come from a
‘white trash’ family — and antici-
pating that I don’t know how to
work a job that’s not like my par-
ents in a factory,” Hancock said.
“I had to be taught by my partner,
like, whether you wear a belt with
dress pants or not. A lot of it is just
trying to separate where I come
from and where I’m going. I don’t
have to remain completely the
same as where I’m from, I’m here,
so I should be on the same bar as all
these other people.”
IMPOSTER
From Page 1A
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