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SolWizard t1_j1qhst9 wrote

This doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Who gets imposter syndrome from taking undergrad courses? Imposter syndrome comes from starting your first job and finding out how much you still don't know, or feeling like you'll never be able to contribute.

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roundhousemb t1_j1qlzj8 wrote

I mean one can feel imposter syndrome in a wide range of situations. Don't get me wrong I'm kinda dubious of any conclusions being drawn from this data, but I think it is common (or at the very least possible) for a student who is used to being near the top of their class and is suddenly middle of the pack because of the competitive admissions process to feel imposter syndrome. They feel they aren't actually succeeding unless they're "winning", which obviously isn't actually how school works.

That said, because this is a survey before they have actually attended any amount of university, they don't have any actual context for what university is like and I get the feeling it's more based on their perception of the school and where it was in their list. Was it a safety school? Was it their top choice?

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ashtobro t1_j1qyxj4 wrote

I mean I know higher education is a bit different than regular/high school, but unless it's the best uni in the country or the world, I can't imagine imposter syndrome manifesting that way. I'd speculate that any discrepancies were a result of the ratio of men to women anyways, and/or the ensuing culture from the slightly men-centric survey pool.

For all I know they just felt a bit less welcome but OP was only checking for imposter syndrome, there's honestly so many questions and unknown variables that this data seems like utter gibberish to the scientific method. Also why even interview students? Why not post grads that either have or are struggling to find a career?

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GeorgeDaGreat123 OP t1_j1r71lf wrote

"Imposter syndrome" or more accurately "confidence in ability" is a very big problem at my university since the software engineering and computer science programs are so competitive. It's the 1st or 2nd most competitive program in all of Canada.

For last year's graduating software engineering class:

The median salary was 120k USD plus 23k USD in stock/options and 29k USD signing bonus.

The average salary was 155k USD plus 70k USD in stock/options and 46k USD signing bonus.

No student graduated without a job, with only 6% earning less than 80k USD (75th percentile of individual income in the USA), and nearly half in the 90th percentile.

That said, it would be interesting to see how confidence in ability changed over the years from freshman to graduating classes.

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nocuzzlikeyea13 t1_j1rjvkd wrote

Incorrect, it's been demonstrated at the undergraduate level. The thought process is very similar: "i didn't deserve to get into this program, i don't belong in this class, i can't participate or learn because I don't belong."

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