My one piece of advice for new students? Know this: Most students I’ve talked to go through imposter syndrome when they get to Stanford.
It’s this feeling that you don’t belong or you were somehow admitted by mistake. It’s very common. Folks should know that the university doesn’t make mistakes in admitting people. They’ve been doing this for a very long time. You belong here. When I got here, I failed my first two exams. I was certain that I wasn’t going to succeed. I wish I would have recognized earlier that there are just bumps along the way and that’s normal.
I’m trying to share wisdom like this with younger students through a mentoring group called EDGE – Enhancing Diversity in Graduate Education.
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