Student With Imposter Syndrome Spotted Faking Tasks

In their first months at Penn, many students reportedly experience “imposter syndrome,” in which they doubt themselves among their talented peers. Although this is a common phenomenon, one student seems to be taking it a bit far, and many are now questioning his actual credentials as a Penn student.

The Penn Police Department has released the following report of the alleged imposter: “Suspect was last seen wearing a cyan hazmat suit, despite no apparent affiliation with Penn Medicine or on-campus COVID testing. When confronted about his intentions, the suspect fled to a local ventilation system.”

There seems to be a split opinion on the next steps to take. Several students who share classes with the suspect described him as unproductive: “Yeah, we were assigned to make a slide deck together,” Amon Guss (W ’24) stated. “But after hours of working, I found out he was just pretending to type on his keyboard? It was almost like… he was faking his tasks?”

Other students have been more compassionate: “I think we need to give him a chance to defend himself,” explained Em Ergency (C ’22). “He could just be intimidated by the intense culture here, and I don’t blame him for covering up when Penn Face is so bad these days.”

When we asked the students how they reached these conclusions, they said they reasoned with the same kind of thoughtful analysis they’d go about in a UA election: “I don’t know, he just looks hella sus.”

The NEC will hold a formal vote next week on whether the student should be able to stay at Penn.