“It is just excellent luck that brought you to the top. Next time, you will fall behind when the math test doesn’t happen to be so easy”, my math teacher would say it after every test I got a high score. “Don’t be complacent about your score of 99.5 but think about why you lost the 0.5”, my father would warn me like this.

These voices struck me in the first year of junior middle school. My confidence faded away. I felt anxious in situations involving maths, so my mathematical performance went downhill. Later, even when I gained achievements in other areas, I could not feel happy, but feared my weak points being found out.

In high school, I ranked top in every other subject except maths. excellent academic performance lured my teachers and parents to highly expect me to get the admissions of top 2 universities in China. Meanwhile, they thought that I should improve my performance in maths, which was considered as an obstacle. I felt under great pressure and did even worse. Inevitably and luckily, I put myself into psychological counselling. My counsellor helped me overcome emotional problems, guided me to develop a habit of self-examination, and ignited my interest in psychology. I was once helped, and I aspire to be a thinker and helper for young people who have the same problem. So, I started pursuing the second degree in psychology in my sophomore year.

Not until I read Dr. Pauline Rose Clance’s research papers, did I realise that the feelings keeping bedeviling me since my adolescence was impostor phenomenon (IP). When sharing this topic with some friends of mine, I found that I was not alone to feel this way, which inspired me to conduct my first psychological research, “Impostor Phenomenon in Tsinghua University”.

Firstly, questionnaire survey results showed that in 95 participants, 65 of them were identified as impostors, which suggest the prevalence of IP in Tsinghua called for more attention. Furthermore, a case study was conducted to explore the origins of IP (please see in admissions written work 1). From the participant’s and my own early life experiences, I realised that both school and family educational factors could contribute to the development of IP, which had negative impact on students’ academic attainment and mental well-being.

From this research, I am inspired that beside of cognitive development, psychosocial development is also a significant contributor to students’ academic performance. Moreover, education is the responsibility of both schools and families. Thus, in my master’s, I aspire to explore how family and school educational factors interact to affect children’s academic attainment, and in what ways family and school can jointly improve children’s well-being.

Through your programme, I aspire to enrich my theoretical knowledge related to children’s development and education as well as advance in research methods, especially quantitative data analysis. This course provides an access of theories and research on child development. The Qualitative Methods Hub and the Quantitative Methods Hub at your department will develop my comprehensive understanding of key concepts and principles of research methodology. So, I am convinced that I will gain knowledge and skills to conduct my own researches. Moreover, one thing making this course stand out among programmes of other schools is that the design and evaluation of educational programmes and policies is also involved, which can enable me to find practical ways to truly bring changes in children’s educational environment. (我想表达的是，通过学习评估和制定教育手段和政策，我可以更加实在地，脚踏实地地去影响和改变现实中的教育)

I wish to continue from this master programme to PhD. My doctoral project will focus on IP in adolescence. I will assess the prevalence of IP among adolescents, identify the triggers of it in schools and at home, and find ways to prevent and intervene it. After graduation, I plan to start my career as an educational psychologist in the faculty of education of a university in the UK. I would like to work jointly with schools and families to perfect children’s education environment. If I can make children of the next generation lead a happier life because of my help, I will consider that as my greatest achievement.