In a stunning display of self-trust in her expertise, 29-year-old biochemistry graduate student Carolyn Whitney defended her graduate work to her thesis committee and even fielded their questions without ever once uttering the phrase, “But I could be wrong”.
While many of us harshly judge and doubt ourselves our entire lives and just accept that we’re not good enough to stop it, Whitney carried out one of the most stressful events in her life with such sheer confidence that many are left confused and afraid.
“Not to downplay her accomplishments, but with all those years of research, it’s hard to believe she thinks she never fucked up once,” shared her adviser. “The room for error is just too big. It’s preposterous for anyone to think they didn’t fail even slightly from the start.”.
“She must know ‘but I could be wrong’ saves her from, you know, being wrong, right?”
While some theses examine existing research, Whitney’s doctorate program required her to build original work that serves as evidence for an important discovery in her field, making this such a prime opportunity for her self-hatred to undercut her work, thoughts, and opinions while destroying all the things she once loved about herself before starting.
“I was shocked,” said thesis committee member Dr. Joyce Baynard. “She really stuck to her guns. I mean, she could have downplayed herself at any point. Her words, her PowerPoint, her appearance. She didn’t address their validity once. Not so much as a flinch when I asked her to clarify something she just said.”
She didn’t express even the tiniest amount of panic as she set out to prove she has the skills to do this the rest of her life, but it sounds like Carolyn is just built differently!
Pardon, we meant Carolyn Whitney, Ph.D! Bitch!
When asked if Dr. Whitney was aware her work would be archived in the university library and possibly even published to the mainstream, she simply responded, “Mhm! I mean, it would be more embarrassing for my advisor, committee, and university if they let me publish something flawed than it would be for me.”
This is the kind of behavior we’d expect from a dude, but it looks like she’s closing that gender confidence gap!
At press time, Dr. Whitney was found wondering if she’s good enough to be called a doctor.
