{"id":587,"date":"2019-09-18T12:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T17:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/?p=587"},"modified":"2019-05-30T09:41:27","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T14:41:27","slug":"first-year-fears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/2019\/09\/18\/first-year-fears\/","title":{"rendered":"First-year Fears"},"content":{"rendered":"

The transition to graduate school is an exciting time in the life of a first-year graduate student, but it can also be a terrifying experience.\u00a0 As a first-year graduate student, I will admit that the first couple of weeks of my graduate career were extremely overwhelming.\u00a0 I found myself in an unfamiliar city surrounded by students who seemed to be more comfortable in this environment than I would ever be.\u00a0 Many students already held advanced degrees, while I was making the transition straight from undergraduate.\u00a0 Doubts arose and I asked myself the most daunting question that a graduate student can pose: \u201cDo I\u00a0really\u00a0<\/i>belong here?\u201d Amidst the panic and feelings of discouragement, I hadn\u2019t noticed that I had fallen victim to a prevalent phenomenon known as the \u201cImpostor Syndrome.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Impostor Syndrome is characterized by feelings of inferiority that may be coupled with the idea that you are a \u201cfake\u201d or that everything you have accomplished thus far can be attributed to luck or any external factors not related to your own abilities.\u00a0 These feelings can be quite debilitating and may interfere with your school work.\u00a0 However, as graduate students we need to keep one important idea in mind: These feelings are absolutely unfounded.
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

So how can we overcome these feelings?\u00a0 Well, one of the answers is in the question.\u00a0 It is important to realize that you are not alone.\u00a0 Other students have undoubtedly been through a similar experience.\u00a0 Graduate students belong to a unique community, and it\u2019s important to reach out to the other members of the community.\u00a0 So talk with your fellow peers about their experiences as graduate students.\u00a0 You may find that they share or have shared the same concerns as you, and they can help you find ways to resolve them.<\/p>\n

It is also important to realize that none of us are perfect.\u00a0 Most of us will encounter a moment in which we may start to question our competence.\u00a0 At this point, it\u2019s important to take a step back and recognize how far you have come.\u00a0 This will give you a different perspective and will help you to realize how much you already know.\u00a0 Keep in mind your moments of success and the steps you took to achieve this success.\u00a0 At the same time, it is beneficial to identify potential areas of improvement.\u00a0 Categorizing your weaknesses is a key step in working past these barriers in order to grow as a person and as a student.<\/p>\n

Finally, take care to remember that\u00a0you do belong<\/b>.\u00a0 You were accepted because your professors were impressed by you and believed that you would succeed in your program.\u00a0 We are all talented and bright intellectuals that have the potential to make an impact in our respective fields.\u00a0 When you are struggling with negative feelings, do not quit.\u00a0 Be persistent in your efforts to overcome these feelings.\u00a0 Have confidence in yourself and believe that you can accomplish great things \u2013 a positive attitude will yield a world of possibilities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The transition to graduate school is an exciting time in the life of a first-year graduate student, but it can also be a terrifying experience.\u00a0 As a first-year graduate student, I will admit that the first couple of weeks of my graduate career were extremely overwhelming.\u00a0 I found myself in an unfamiliar city surrounded by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":590,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-587","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-advice","8":"category-new-student"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/09\/impostor2.gif","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":589,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587\/revisions\/589"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.tntech.edu\/graduate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}