Each day I get called "Dr" or "Prof" at least 40 times, either in person or by email. I'm in charge of 65 students for six hours of lecture a week and another 25 students for four-hour, weekly labs. I vote in faculty meetings. I attend faculty happy hours.
Still, once I'm finally alone in my office (this happens for maybe 20 minutes a day during "working" hours), I pause, look out the window, and silently sigh, "I can't believe I'm actually a professor!"
It's not that I feel like I'm not capable. Or that I'm not doing a good job. Or that I'm not 100% deserving of my job. I just feel completely bewildered (for those 20 minutes) that I actually did it: I finally got the degree and am someone else's professor.
