An Emory MBA Student Wants To Understand Imposter Syndrome In Business School – And She’s Asking Students To Help

For many MBA students, the resume that helped them get into business school is impressive: promotions, leadership roles, high-impact projects, glowing recommendations. By most objective measures, they have already proven themselves.

Yet once they arrive on campus, something unexpected often happens.

Confidence shrinks. Doubt creeps in. And the feeling of being an outsider – even among equally accomplished peers – can quietly take hold.

That experience is the focus of a new research project led by Tanysha Young, a second-year MBA student at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. As part of a directed study this semester, Young is launching a survey aimed at understanding how imposter syndrome manifests among MBA students – particularly those who were already successful before entering business school.

And she’s hoping students across programs will participate.

“This is something I experienced myself,” Young tells Poets&Quants. “When I thought about coming into the MBA, I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to tackle this head-on.’ I had done a lot at Cardinal Health before coming here.”

But once she arrived on campus, the transition felt very different from what she expected.

“Once I actually got here, it was like I just shrunk,” she says. “I felt like I didn’t belong. I felt like I wasn’t the person I was before entering the program.”

A SURVEY AIMED AT MBA STUDENTS ACROSS PROGRAMS

Young plans to launch the survey later this month, with the goal of collecting responses from MBA students across different schools and programs.

The project will explore how imposter syndrome appears in MBA environments, what triggers it, and how it affects behavior – from classroom participation to recruiting decisions.

Ultimately, the results will inform the development of a practical toolkit or “survival guide” for future MBA students, designed to help them navigate the psychological side of business school.

“I think people talk a lot about the rigor of MBA core courses and how intense the academics can be,” Young says. “But for me, the mental aspect was actually what made the core so hard.”

Young says the survey is designed to capture experiences that often remain unspoken.

“I’ve had one-on-one conversations with classmates where people admit they’re feeling the same thing,” she says. “But nobody really says it publicly.”

WHEN HIGH ACHIEVERS FEEL LIKE THEY DON’T BELONG

Imposter syndrome – the persistent feeling that one’s accomplishments are undeserved or that one will eventually be exposed as a fraud – is widely studied in psychology and professional environments.

MBA programs may intensify those dynamics.

Students are surrounded by equally accomplished peers. Classroom participation is often public and highly visible. Recruiting outcomes are compared openly. Rankings, grades, and internship offers can become constant reference points.

“All of that is happening at once,” Young says. “You’re comparing yourself to people who are also extremely high-achieving.”

That environment can lead students to second-guess themselves even when their ideas are valid.

“In class, sometimes you see classmates who are very vocal,” Young says. “And it can make you hesitate – like, ‘I don’t know if what I’m going to say is valuable.’”

The irony, she adds, is that students often realize later that they were thinking the same thing someone else eventually said aloud.

“I’d sit there thinking something but not raise my hand,” she says. “Then someone else would say it, and I’d beat myself up because I could have contributed.”

HOW IMPOSTER SYNDROME SHAPES MBA BEHAVIOR

Young says imposter syndrome can influence several aspects of the MBA experience.

In the classroom, it may discourage participation. In networking situations, it can cause students to overthink how to approach alumni or recruiters.

“We have alumni who are vice presidents at companies or senior leaders,” Young says. “Sometimes you start second-guessing how to introduce yourself or whether you’re valuable enough to approach them.”

In recruiting, the effects can be even more consequential.

Young has observed peers deciding not to pursue certain opportunities simply because they believed classmates were stronger candidates.

“They wouldn’t even apply because they felt like someone else was a better fit,” she says. “They didn’t give themselves a chance.”

FROM SURVEY RESULTS TO A PRACTICAL TOOLKIT

The survey is just the first stage of the project.

Young plans to analyze responses and use the findings to design resources that help MBA students recognize and manage imposter syndrome during their programs.

The final goal is a toolkit that helps students reflect on their experiences, recognize common patterns, and develop strategies to stay engaged rather than withdrawing.

“It’s about acknowledgement first,” Young says. “Just recognizing that this is something people experience.”

The toolkit may include reflection exercises, behavioral prompts, or strategies that help students track how imposter feelings affect their engagement with class participation, networking, and recruiting.

“I want it to be something students can actually use,” she says.

AN INVITATION TO MBA STUDENTS

Young hopes MBA students from a wide range of programs – full-time, part-time, and executive – will complete the survey.

The more responses she receives, the more useful the findings will be in understanding how common imposter syndrome is across business schools and what factors influence it.

For students who have quietly wrestled with self-doubt during their MBA experience, participating may also offer something else: the reassurance that they are not alone.

“I think a lot of people are feeling this,” Young says. “We’re just not always talking about it.”

See Tanysha Young’s survey here.

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