Geez,
I have faced similar challenges so I understand how difficult it is. I could "not" even hear my sisters voice for a while without getting severely triggered.

I think that the problem for you is that this goes back to the "child" in you and that is hard to overcome. That "child" didn't know how to "overcome intimidation" and that is where you feel challenged now as well. I have dealt with that myself and it "is" hard when coming across a personality type that reminds you of how you struggled. It can be an "invalidating" struggle where when you were a child, you may have felt that no matter how well you did, you were not going to have "validation" for it. I think that is why you develope "attachments" with "strong successful women" that "validate you" and give you "permission" to thrive.

You need to get to a point where you "truely believe in yourself" and that just is not quite there yet, hense this woman is triggering you. And you really want this to work as far as furthering your education and overall sense of self worth.

Getting "past" this will be a big "win" for you geez, so keep working at it, you can do it.

((((Big Hugs for Support)))), and I believe you can get past this geez.
Open Eyes