“The biggest obstacle is having some faith that I belong here”

I’m a first year graduate student who, as an undergrad, never struggled with major issues of confidence. Sure, I got frustrated once in a while when I felt like I was making progress, or a paper wasn’t working out the way I wanted it to–but I was always confident that I had the intellectual capacity to handle the source of these frustrations.

Recently I turned in a draft of a paper, which recieved positive feedback. Some other students recieved more critical comments, and seem to have reacted with a moderate level of panic. Ironically, receiving positive feedback sent me into a panic as well– I worried that my final draft wouldn’t live up to the professor’s expectations.

I always thought graduate school would be academically difficult– but right now, I’m surprised to find that the biggest obstacle is having some faith that I belong here.