Imposter Syndrome and Graduate School
By: Dr. Deborah Tollefsen, Vice Provost & Dean of the UofM Graduate School
I'm 55. I have a doctorate in philosophy. I am a tenured, full professor. I have a respectable scholarly output and a successful administrative career.
But for many years, I was plagued with the following recurring dream: I get an email or a call from The Ohio State University telling me that I don't actually have a PhD.
The reasons vary depending on the dream version. Sometimes it's because I never passed a language exam. We had a logic exam, and now I have to go back and take a language course and try to pass a language exam (in my dream, it is always French). Other times, it's because I am missing another course, or there is no record of my writing a dissertation.
And every time, the dream produces in me a terror that I can't quite describe, one that lingers long after I wake up.
Imposter Syndrome and Graduate School
Imposter syndrome - the belief that your success is undeserved and that you'll be exposed as a fraud - is not rare. In fact, studies suggest that between 70–80% of people experience imposter syndrome at some point in their lives, and it's especially prevalent in academic and high-achieving environments.
Graduate school is uniquely structured to amplify those insecurities. You're surrounded by brilliant peers, constantly evaluated, and often working in environments where the expectation is that you'll fail before you succeed. It's easy to internalize the message that you're never good enough.
The Role of Faculty and Mentors
Challenging students is essential. Rigor matters. But rigor without support is corrosive.
Too often, the first two years of graduate programs are treated as "proving grounds" - a survival-of-the-fittest model that assumes the strongest will endure. But attrition isn't the same thing as excellence. Students who leave because they feel unsupported may have been capable of extraordinary contributions if given the chance to flourish.
As faculty and mentors, we need to remember that when we bring a student into a program, we've already signaled belief in their potential. Our job is not to break them down but to help them rise up - intellectually and emotionally. That means:
- Normalizing conversations about imposter syndrome and mental health.
- Building structures of mentorship and peer support.
- Offering constructive feedback that develops, rather than diminishes, confidence.
- Making clear that growth, not perfection, is the goal.
Flourishing, Not Just Surviving
Graduate school will always be hard. But it doesn't have to be crushing. When we shift the culture from proving grounds to places of growth, we help students carry forward not just knowledge, but resilience.