A Journey of Academic Transformation: Overcoming Self-Doubt and Embracing Confidence

Written by: Daisy Taylor

Hey GWIL Readers,

My name is Daisy Taylor and I am a part of the Events Team on GWIL. I am also a fifth year business student with a specialization in Management who will be graduating this April. As I look back on my four years at the University of Guelph I think about how much I have changed as a person, and as a student. When I was accepted to UofG, I remember feeling so relieved to have gotten in as I was rejected from the other Universities I applied to. At the time, I was a student who did not have much interest in any school subject or extra-curricular club. If I am being honest, I didn’t care about school at all. My main concern was getting into University for my parents approval. I had always thought of myself as the least intelligent person in the room and was never confident in my intellectual ability. This stemmed from constant self invalidation and constant comparison to other classmates who had high school averages of 90 or 95 percent.

As I look back, I never actually tried. I never wanted to try, and so I connected my laziness to a lack of intelligence. And because I told myself this for such a long time I became discouraged. Even after my first and second year of University I figured well my grades aren’t great, so I must not be smart and that's that. It wasn’t until my second semester of third year that things started to turn around. I started reviewing my notes, paying attention in lectures, and making an effort to participate in all sections of my coursework. After Winter 2022, I received my first email from the Dean’s office as I had made the honour roll that semester. I finally thought to myself wow I might actually be capable of being an academic person and someone who cares about school. I started introducing myself to the profs in my class, starting taking a leadership role in group projects (I was always confident in that lol), and thinking I can do this. Once I started prioritizing coursework and wanting to make the Dean’s list again, I thought I might actually start to like school.

I think for so many people, they become discouraged after years and years of bad grades and poor participation, and they connect it to being stupid. When you already assume that you’re not going to do well you are way less determined to make the effort. That exact thing happened to me. I was completely discouraged and I never set any real academic goals for myself. If I had made an effort back in my second year, my mother definitely would not have been looking at what the qualifications were for academic probation… Now that this is going to be my last semester at UofG and I will be graduating I wish I had someone to tell me that if you actually care about coursework and the classes you take (not all of them, trust me statistics is not fun for anyone), some of them are actually interesting. Now that I am confident in my ability to be intellectual and driven to learn more, I am finding that after school I want to go into Sales.

Second year Daisy would have been blown away. Coming to this realization has also made me wish that I had joined GWIL earlier. I’ve only been on the team for my final year and if I had been on it my entire University career, I think I would have come to this conclusion a long time ago. Being confident in who you are helps you to become an even better version of yourself. If you surround yourself with people who bring you up, you will only accomplish great things. Being a woman in business is no longer intimidating. Being the dumbest person in the room is never even a thought. I hope that this resonates with ayone who has felt the way I did. At times I still go back to that person who thinks they’re unintelligent, but the more you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, the more you will learn about yourself and realize what you can accomplish.

- Daisy