Throughout my time as an undergrad, I have been surrounded by pre-meds/pre-health people all doing their best and trying not to have a nervous breakdown. Going to those underground lecture halls every day, trying not to fall asleep, and getting clicker points that will save my grade. But, looking at my time spent in those classes as a second-semester senior, I began thinking about how I never exactly felt like I belonged. The idea of being pre-med (or in my case pre-optometry) sounded so intimidating when I first started at SLU. Those were always the people who were way too smart for their own good, studied all the time, and school just came naturally to them. Nevertheless, I did my best and studied as hard as I could, somehow going through chem and bio class after chem and bio class. And now at the end of it, even though I have passed all of these classes and made it just as far as everyone else, I still have this feeling of inadequacy. And this feeling is creeping into how I feel about myself in applying to grad school, and I hate that.
Moving forward in my career and academic path, I do not want to constantly question my own capabilities. I have realized that every stage in your life will bring feelings of self-doubt, that will make you question if you have what it takes to make it through. These feelings are isolating, as it seems no one else could possibly understand what you are going through. But, they do. Everyone is fighting this imposter syndrome all the time. The only way to overcome this is to accept all you have accomplished and know you are capable of whatever is to come next. You deserve to be there just as much everyone else and through hard work and resilience, your goals can be obtained.