I recently had my six month teeth cleaning and when my wonderful hygienist Nicole polished and pierced my teeth, my gums felt a little more sensitive than usual. I mentioned that I had worn off my floss.
Nicole asked me how many days a week I floss and I said, embarrassed, “Maybe four?”
“That’s really good,” she said. “And your teeth look great. I think you’re just driving yourself crazy.”
Psyche me out. This was the second time in the last month that someone told me I was doing this, and it reminded me that most of us are too tough on ourselves – and we usually do a lot better than we think.
I moved from Wake Tech Community College to UNC two years ago. And I often think that I must have accidentally been admitted to this university, I’m not as smart as my colleagues, I don’t deserve to be in the positions I find myself in.
During the orientation in July 2019, Luke Fayard, the university’s transfer student coordinator, gave a talk on impostor syndrome – a phenomenon characterized by strong self-doubt and the feeling of being a deceiver.
And it seems that transfer students are particularly prone to this.
Transfer students go many different ways to the UNC. In my cohort there was a father of two closer to my parents’ age than myself, a baseball player who had the chance to join the Diamond Heels, people who went to community college first to save money, many who did at other universities but decided they needed a change for one reason or another … the list goes on.
Of the 71 percent of incoming first graders who reported their high school class rank in 2020, nearly three-quarters were in the top 10 percent in their class and over 90 percent were in the top 20, according to the Office of Undergraduate Admissions. In contrast, it’s not uncommon for transfer students to not do so well in high school and then to work really hard for the first year or two of college to prove themselves.
Whatever your path to UNC, as a transfer you may feel that you have to catch up here. Many of your first year fellow students are straight out of the AP course (and won’t make you forget that), and the high school students you meet will have had some time to adjust to the rigor of UNC academics – which you sure do are. I’ve heard horror stories.
Adapting from a community college can be especially difficult. I’m very grateful to Wake Tech and it’s a great college, but it just doesn’t have the resources that the flagship state university has. And while my classmates were wonderful, intelligent people, they weren’t consistently high achievers like my colleagues at UNC – they had lives outside of school.
It can be very tempting to do all of the things when you come to UNC, to join all of the clubs, to take all of the courses. And while I highly recommend joining some of the many student organizations – in my experience this is the best way to make friends – and taking advantage of the university’s extensive range of courses, don’t overwhelm yourself.
You can attend as many club prospect meetings and sign up for as many list servs as you want, but you don’t have to commit to everything. And students who switch with 30 or more credit hours can stay an additional semester at UNC. So take advantage of this if it is a good option for you.
There will be times when you feel like you are incompetent and you haven’t understood your life, but trust me – most people just fake it until they get it. Even if some of your coworkers look like they have it all together, they’re probably a mess and good at hiding it. They are most likely consuming far too much caffeine and sleeping far too little, and too often their health suffers – physically and mentally.
While caffeine and sleepless nights are inevitable parts of the college experience, it’s important to find the right balance so that they don’t get too prominent in your daily life. And don’t be afraid to admit when you’re struggling. Many people are ready to help and they can trust you too.
Entry into the UNC is difficult at any level. While recording as a transfer on paper may seem easier than recording as a first grader, you had to work as hard as – and maybe even harder than – everyone else to get in.
Don’t waste time wondering how you got here or if you deserve to be here. You are here. You can also make the most of it. And you will do just fine.
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source https://collegeeducationnewsllc.com/column-dealing-with-impostor-syndrome-as-a-transfer-student/
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