Imposter Syndrome in Commerce Degrees — And How to Beat It

The room was always yours 

You're lying in bed, phone in hand, doing the one thing you swore you wouldn't do before sleeping: scrolling LinkedIn. There it is, a student from your cohort announcing their Big Four internship. Another post about a consulting case competition they just won. You close the app, stare at the ceiling, and think: what am I even doing here?

I know that feeling. I'm in that cohort. I do that scroll.

And the honest answer is that I don't always know what I'm doing here either, but I've started to think that might actually be the point!

What we're all quietly carrying

Almost everyone in a commerce degree reaches a moment where they wonder whether they actually belong. It's so common it has a name: the Impostor Phenomenon. First described by psychologists Clance and Imes in 1978, it refers to high-achieving individuals who, despite their objective successes, struggle to internalise their accomplishments and instead live in persistent fear of being exposed as a fraud. Research suggests it affects around 62% of people (Clance & Imes, 1978). Which means statistically, the person sitting next to you in your finance lecture is probably feeling it too, they're just not saying it out loud. Neither are you. Neither was I, for a long time.

Imposter syndrome is the gap between what you've achieved and what you actually believe about yourself. You chalk your wins up to luck, timing, or someone else's generosity. You chalk your failures up to proof that you were never good enough to begin with. Evidence stacks up in your favour, and somehow you still manage to dismiss it. 

Why commerce makes it worse

Commerce degrees are a near perfect environment for this feeling to fester. You're surrounded by high-achievers, people who seem to already speak fluent Excel, who've had internships before finishing their first year. The pressure to have it all figured out starts almost immediately, long before you actually feel ready.

And then there's the comparison trap. LinkedIn and social media make everyone else's wins loudly visible while your own progress stays quietly invisible. What you're seeing is a highlight reel curated, polished, and completely missing the rejection emails that came before it. When your reference point is the most composed version of everyone around you, falling behind starts to feel like a personal failing rather than just... being a university student. 

For women in commerce, this compounds. In male-dominated fields like finance, consulting, and investment banking, there's an additional layer of self-doubt that goes beyond individual achievement. The feeling of needing to prove you belong in rooms where you're visibly underrepresented. It's exhausting in a way that's hard to articulate to someone who hasn't felt it. 

Why it's worth taking seriously

This isn't just an internal discomfort to push through. Imposter syndrome has real, tangible consequences. Opportunities missed because you didn't put your hand up, interviews where you undersell yourself, and burnout from working twice as hard to prove something that was never actually in question. When capable people hold back from leadership roles, important perspectives simply disappear from the table. That's not just a personal loss. It's a collective one.

This is compounded by the underrepresentation of women. Research consistently shows that women are more likely to hold back from applying for roles unless they feel fully qualified, while their male peers apply with far less hesitation (Price et al., 2024). That hesitation has consequences not just individually, but collectively. Representation matters, and it starts with someone deciding to show up!

What actually helps

Shift the goal - Stop trying to prove you belong and start focusing on what you're learning. A commerce degree isn't a performance, it's a process. Once the goal shifts from appearing capable to becoming capable, the pressure lifts and real growth can happen.

Put the phone down- That LinkedIn scroll isn't showing you reality. Give yourself a break from measuring your progress against someone else's public wins. Especially ones that don't show the full picture.

Act before you feel ready- Confidence doesn't arrive first; it follows action. Ask questions at networking events. Apply for the role you're not completely sure you're qualified for. Every time you move despite the doubt, you make it slightly smaller.

Find people who are honest about it- Clubs, mentors, communities where people talk about struggle as openly as they talk about success. These matter more than they might seem. Mentors who've sat exactly where you're sitting and made it through aren't just inspiring. They're proof.

The part I keep coming back to

The people who seem most confident in your cohort are probably running the same internal monologue you are. The difference isn't that they belong more, it's that they've learned to act despite the doubt rather than waiting for it to go away.

You were admitted to your degree for a reason. You've earned every seat you're sitting in. The room was always yours.

Go take it.

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References:

Clance, P. R., & Imes, S. A. (1978). The imposter phenomenon in high achieving women: Dynamics and therapeutic intervention. Psycnet.apa.org. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1979-26502-001

Price, P. C., Holcomb, B., & Payne, M. B. (2024). Gender Differences in Impostor Phenomenon: A Meta-Analytic Review. Current Research in Behavioral Sciences, 7, 100155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crbeha.2024.100155