Trust Me — You Can Do It

As I sit here, having completed the last final exam of my undergraduate career, reflecting on the past four years of my life as well as what I’ve accomplished in that time — I must say that I am proud of myself. I am proud that I was able to push through the difficult times and overcome imposter syndrome. Now, don’t get me wrong — I am nowhere near where I want to be and I still have a LOT of time before I’ll be there. However, I want to still congratulate myself for the hard work and dedication that I put into getting here; but understand that this post is not meant for me to fellate myself — I am writing this to share the experiences I’ve had along the way so that these lessons can be used as inspiration for others that were once in my position.

Let’s rewind to four years ago. As I was entering into Arizona State as a freshman, I was in no way sure of what I wanted to do for my major. I was undecided between computer science and psychology, I chose the former simply because of familial pressures but I was in no way invested in it (I discuss that here). It was as if I let my family roll the dice of my destiny and I accepted this fate as though it was a sentencing from the Queen.

The first two years were especially difficult; it took time for me to adjust to the level of rigor that college necessitated, especially in math as it was never something that came natural to me. Suffice it to say, I didn’t win the genetic lottery on this one, I was not blessed with the math excellence gene that some of my peers possessed.