I found Wendy Pratt’s article insightful, but I fear it risks sending the wrong message (A moment that changed me: I quit my PhD – and left my severe impostor syndrome behind, 7 August). I am a PhD student (albeit in a science subject) at a prestigious university with a large international community. I grew up just 13 miles away from my university, yet I know very few other PhD students and academics who speak like me. It can be really jarring to be the only person in a room with my accent and to hear my own accent in a different way as I speak. However, I feel that university communities benefit from more diversity, not less, and I refuse to let my voice bother me.
Impostor syndrome is very common in academia. Having it is not a sign that there is something wrong with you. An effective way to live with it is to realise that it affects a large percentage of your colleagues and peers too. I strongly disagree with the idea that PhD study isn’t for people from working‑class backgrounds.
