5 traits of top students
Summary
TLDRThis video script explores the key traits of top 1% students observed at MIT, including being mission-driven, seeking mentors, thinking outside the box, seeing the bigger picture, and being effective communicators. It emphasizes the importance of having a clear focus, leveraging natural advantages, and crafting a compelling narrative to stand out in academics and beyond. The speaker shares insights on how to embrace uniqueness, pursue passions meaningfully, and communicate one's story to achieve success.
Takeaways
- 🌟 The most successful students are mission-driven, often focusing on a specific academic area, social cause, or sport that they are passionate about.
- 🏆 Successful students often have a natural advantage in their area of interest, which they capitalize on to excel and stand out.
- 📬 Top students actively seek mentorship and are not afraid to reach out to professionals through cold emails to gain guidance and opportunities.
- 💡 Embracing uniqueness and thinking outside the box is a trait of successful students; they pursue unconventional projects that showcase their intellectual curiosity.
- 🔍 They carefully select their activities to align with their mission and personality, ensuring a balanced and appealing profile.
- 📚 Effective communication is crucial for top students; they are able to articulate their experiences and achievements in a compelling manner.
- 🤔 Successful students are strategic in their approach, considering their audience and goals when communicating their story.
- 📈 They understand the importance of showcasing a variety of interests and not just focusing solely on their primary mission.
- 📝 Students can transform their interests into larger projects, such as turning a love for K-pop into a research study or building PCs into a small business.
- 🎯 Successful students are not deterred by the perceived difficulty of their goals; they question the status quo and push boundaries to achieve their objectives.
- 🗣️ Storytelling is a skill that top students master, as it allows them to convey their experiences and attributes in a way that resonates with their audience.
Q & A
What are some common traits of top 1% students according to the script?
-The script mentions five traits: being mission-driven, finding mentors, thinking outside the box, seeing the bigger picture, and being effective communicators.
Why is it important for students to have a mission during their high school years?
-Having a mission helps students focus their efforts and passions on a particular area, which can lead to significant accomplishments and a strong academic record.
What is the advice for students who have too many options and don't know what their mission should be?
-The advice is to lean into the activity or pursuit where they have a natural advantage, as this positions them to dive into their mission more effectively.
How can students capitalize on their natural advantages mentioned in the script?
-Students can capitalize on their natural advantages by choosing activities that align with their strengths and the resources available to them, such as school clubs or AP courses.
What is the role of mentors in the success of top students?
-Mentors provide guidance, opportunities, and support, helping students to navigate their pursuits and achieve their goals more effectively.
Why is cold emailing an effective strategy for students to find mentors?
-Cold emailing is effective because many successful adults are willing to help young people succeed, and a single positive response can unlock a range of opportunities.
What does the script suggest about the importance of thinking outside the box for students?
-Thinking outside the box allows students to pursue their mission in unique and meaningful ways, which can lead to recognition and success.
How can students transform their interests into larger pursuits as suggested in the script?
-Students can explore how their interests could be expanded into research studies, small businesses, or platforms like YouTube channels for sharing their passion.
What does the script mean by 'seeing the bigger picture' in terms of a student's activities and accomplishments?
-Seeing the bigger picture involves aligning a student's activities with their core mission and personality, creating a balanced and appealing profile for college admissions, scholarships, or employment.
Why is effective communication important for students when showcasing their achievements?
-Effective communication is crucial for convincing others of a student's abilities and attributes, whether it's in a leadership position, a job interview, or the college admissions process.
How can students practice effective communication according to the script?
-Students can practice effective communication by focusing on storytelling and tailoring their messages to their audience and the specific attributes they want to convey.
Outlines
🎓 Embracing Excellence: Traits of Top 1% Students
This paragraph introduces the author's experience at MIT, where they encountered exceptionally talented students with remarkable achievements. The author outlines their intention to share five key traits that contributed to these students' success. The first trait discussed is being 'mission-driven,' emphasizing the importance of having a clear goal or passion, whether academic, social, or athletic. The author suggests leveraging natural advantages and resources to pursue this mission, while also encouraging creativity in transforming interests into larger projects.
💡 Seeking Guidance: The Power of Mentorship
The second paragraph delves into the significance of finding mentors for top students. It highlights how successful individuals often seek guidance from mentors to advance in their fields. The author shares personal anecdotes about students who reached out to industry professionals through cold emails to gain experience or advice. The paragraph also introduces a productivity tool, Magical,赞助商, to help automate tasks and streamline the process of cold emailing, providing a step-by-step guide on how to use it effectively.
🤔 Thinking Outside the Box: Pursuing Unique Passions
The third paragraph discusses the importance of thinking unconventionally and pursuing unique interests. It emphasizes that successful students often engage in activities that may seem unusual but allow them to stand out. The author encourages students to question what is possible and to consider how they can pursue their passions in ways that are distinct from their peers. The paragraph also touches on the trend of high school students conducting research and publishing papers, which showcases their intellectual curiosity and can be advantageous for college applications.
🌐 Seeing the Bigger Picture: Aligning Activities with Core Mission
In this paragraph, the author discusses the importance of aligning one's activities with their core mission and personality. By presenting hypothetical examples of different students' activities, the author illustrates how some students, like Emily, create a balanced and appealing profile that showcases both passion and personality. The author advises students to pursue a mix of activities related to their mission and those they genuinely enjoy, to create a well-rounded and interesting profile.
🗣️ Mastering Communication: Articulating Achievements
The final paragraph focuses on the importance of effective communication in articulating one's achievements and experiences. The author emphasizes that even with impressive activities, the ability to convey them compellingly is crucial for standing out in college applications, job interviews, and leadership positions. The author suggests that storytelling is a key skill to master, as it allows students to share their experiences and attributes in a way that resonates with their audience.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mission Driven
💡Natural Advantage
💡Mentors
💡Cold Emailing
💡Thinking Outside the Box
💡Intellectual Vitality
💡Bigger Picture
💡Personality
💡Effective Communication
💡Storytelling
Highlights
The speaker encountered brilliant students at MIT, including science fair winners, Olympians, and startup founders.
A student with three IMO gold medals was mentioned, showcasing exceptional talent among peers.
A freshman built a car-sharing app that raised $40 million and sold for an impressive sum.
Successful students are often mission-driven, pursuing academic areas, social causes, or sports with dedication.
Students with too many interests can focus on activities where they have a natural advantage.
Students without clear interests can explore passions and transform them into larger projects or businesses.
Mentorship is crucial for top students, who often seek guidance through cold emails to professionals.
Cold emailing can be effective as many successful adults are willing to help young people succeed.
Top students think outside the box, pursuing unusual projects that showcase their intellectual curiosity.
Research papers published by high school students can demonstrate deep interest and stand out in college applications.
Students should align their activities to showcase both their mission and personality to a broader audience.
A balanced list of activities can make a student seem more interesting to college admissions or potential employers.
Effective communication is essential for standing out, regardless of being introverted or extroverted.
Storytelling is a key skill for students to master, especially when conveying personal experiences and attributes.
The video discusses life philosophies and principles rather than traditional study tips, offering a unique perspective.
Transcripts
during my time at MIT I encountered some
of the most brilliant students I had
ever met science fair winners Olympiad
medalists and even startup Founders I
knew this one kid who had not one not
two but three IMO gold medals I also
remember meeting someone my freshman
fall who built a car sharing app that
raised $40 million he ended up selling
it to a car manufacturer for an absurd
amount of money kids like these were
intimidating yet inspiring because they
had the wildest accomplishment on top of
a stellar academic record during my time
in college I spent a lot of time with
these students because we were in the
same classes in the same clubs and even
the same dorms and slowly I began to
piece together why these students were
so successful today I've written down
and we'll cover five of these traits so
hopefully you can learn what it takes to
become a top 1% student all right
starting off with trait number one their
mission driven now if you're in high
school I don't expect you to know your
life's calling or to know what career
you want to to after college but I think
the most successful students are on some
sort of mission whether it's an academic
area they want to dive into a social
cause they want to advocate for or a
sport they want to get really good at
more often than not this Mission relates
to what these students end up doing in
college but it doesn't always have to
early on in high school they simply
choose something and give it everything
they have the problem that most students
face however is that they don't know
what their mission should be either they
have too many options for example they
might might be into debate clarinet
environmental justice and basketball or
they might have the opposite problem and
have nothing to choose from if you have
too many options my advice is to lean
into the activity or Pursuit where you
have a natural Advantage because if you
look closely at the top 1% of students
chances are they had a natural Advantage
at whatever they succeeded at on the one
end I'll be honest some of these
advantages are really unfair for example
some of these students who in science
fairs have parents who are literal phds
on the other end you also have students
who had no advantages they had nothing
handed to them and had to do everything
themselves however most students fall in
the middle for example if you're into
environmental justice and your school
has a community garden a bird watching
club and offers AP environmental science
you should capitalize on these natural
advantages they might not be the
craziest advantages but they position
you to dive into your mission but then
let's say you're also into basketball
you enjoy it but maybe you're not super
athletic and on top of that maybe but
your basketball coach isn't the best
this is where you might lack that
natural advantage that doesn't mean you
shouldn't play basketball however all
I'm saying is Dev vote most of your time
to a the things you enjoy and B the
things you're naturally positioned to go
far in okay but what if you don't have
any options simple write down a list of
things that you like and they don't have
to be academic subjects and they don't
have to be extracurricular activities
just think about that one thing you
could talk about hours for it doesn't
matter if it's K-pop it doesn't matter
if it's building PCS it doesn't matter
if it's the Hunger Games now take that
topic and see how you can transform it
into something bigger for example could
that love of K-pop turn into a research
study could that love of building PCS
turn into a small business could that
love of movies turn into a YouTube
channel where you post video essays all
right moving on to trait number two they
find mentors most top students no matter
how smart realize they don't know
everything so they seek guidance when it
comes to doing a research project
starting a business training for an
Olympiad and many of them do so by
sending cold emails which is where the
sponsor of this video comes in magical
magical is a free productivity Chrome
extension that will help you automate
repetitive tasks like writing emails and
moving data around before I show you how
to use it for cold emails let's run
through some Basics you have ai reply
which you can use to respond to messages
with one click depending on the context
you can also use templates which can
allow you to expand trigger words into
full-blown messages this saves time
while still personalizing each email and
then you have transfers which can allow
you to take data from your open tabs and
transfer them to a spreadsheet for cold
emails you're going to use the templates
and the transfer features first we'll
open up the LinkedIn profiles of the
people we want to contact automatically
magical parses the data on the page then
to do the transfer we're going to open a
magical click on transfer 2 hit new
spreadsheet and then click on all tabs
and just like magic no pun intended we
have a spreadsheet with all the
information this is a great way to keep
track of who you want to reach out to
and the status of each one now to find
their emails go to their their LinkedIn
profile and click on magicals enrich
feature which will retrieve their email
and phone number then we're going to
head to the magical workspace create a
new template and write up a cold email
while adding placeholders for key
information and finally in Gmail all we
have to do is use our template trigger
and fill in the place holders to finish
off our cold email download magical for
free to start saving time so you can
work smarter and not harder go to getm
magical. comom or use the link in the
description thanks again to magical AI
for sponsoring today's video okay but
why is cold emailing effective because
from what I've experienced firsthand
many successful adults want to help
young people succeed many of the most
successful artists entrepreneurs and
even scientists that you can think of
probably had a mentor at some point in
their life the best students in my
opinion understand this fact and will
reach out to people to seek help or
opportunities for example if these
students want experience in the film
industry they're going to throw together
a small portfolio and cold email
directors and producers if they want to
start a business they might reach out to
successful entrepr ignes or if they want
to become writers they might even email
professional authors for guidance this
seems crazy but they don't care and they
know they probably won't get any
responses but again they don't care they
know that all they need is that one
response to unlock a whole array of
opportunities trait number three they
think outside the box okay so the three
examples I went over earlier a research
study about K-pop a PC Building business
and a YouTube channel about movies these
all sound kind of weird weird right but
the most successful students in my
opinion are doing the things that seem a
little unusual and look as I went over
in my seven lessons video you have to
embrace your weird side because your
weirdness or your quirks in other words
what makes you unique is what will make
you successful top students don't care
about what's normal they don't care
about what's appropriate for their age
they simply want to pursue their mission
in the deepest and most meaningful way
possible and these are the kids who end
up winning awards for their work or
stand out to admission officers let me
give you a popular example that's sort
of been the trend lately doing research
now quick context for those who don't
know there are some students who will
pick an academic area choose a topic to
investigate and end up publishing a
research paper and this is usually in
collaboration with a college professor
when I was in high school research was
an emerging Trend and it sounded kind of
weird but the students who were doing it
and were doing it well were getting into
top colleges these students thought
outside the box because think about it
what high school student in their right
mind does college level research at 15
16 or 17 years old but it was a way for
them to dive deep into an area they love
and more importantly showcase
intellectual vitality and curiosity
which are characteristics colleges love
okay so here's how you can think outside
the box take your mission and ask
yourself how can I pursue this in a way
that other students aren't I want you to
question what you think is possible
think beyond the clubs at your school
think beyond what people deem
appropriate for your age for example if
you're into movies could you help direct
a short film if you're into AI or
technology could you build a web
application or here's a crazy one if
you're into geography could you help a
professional cartographer draw Maps now
you might be saying goart these ideas
sound super unrealistic and to that I
say you're right as you think outside
the box you will come up with impossible
ideas and if some of these ideas seem
genuinely impossible just let them go
but then also question if some of these
things are really as hard as you think
they are for example finding a startup
yeah that's kind of nuts it's possible
but it's nuts helping direct a short
film well it depends on the film but in
theory it's possible but what about
helping a professional cartographer draw
Maps now this one might seem super
random but the reason I mention it is
because I talked to a student recently
who actually did it and getting the
opportunity wasn't as hard as you might
think it started with a simple cold
email all right moving on to trait
number four top students see the bigger
picture Okay so the top students aren't
cold emailing every successful person
from every industry they're carefully
picking and choosing who they reach out
to and for what they're shaping their
resume and accomplishments to align both
with their personality and their core
Mission and to illustrate this point I
want to introduce you to three
hypothetical students first we have John
here are his five activities then we
have Emily here are her five activities
and then we have Bob here are his five
activities I want you to pause and
compare these three different lists I
think students like Emily are able to
see the bigger picture and realize that
while yes it's important to have a
mission it's also important to Showcase
personality her list has a nice balance
and although we can tell she's super
passionate about the environment we can
also tell there's more to her and this
slight variety might make her seem more
interesting to a college admissions
officer to a scholarship committee or
even to a potential employer John's list
is a bit more one-dimensional and Bob's
list is kind of all over the place look
there's nothing inherently wrong with
John's list or Bob's list students like
John and Bob also get into top colleges
when scholarships and land jobs but yes
I do think EMILY's List is the most
appealing which should actually be
reassuring her list proves that in order
to Showcase your passion and stand out
every single one of your activities
doesn't have to be about your mission I
suggest that you pursue a handful of
things that center around your mission
but then also do a few things that you
genuinely love trait number five top
students are effective communicators now
you could have the most impressive
activities list in the world but if you
can't talk about them in a way that's
clear and compelling you might struggle
to stand out to a college or a potential
employer I find that the most successful
students are able to move people with
their words for example think about
running for a leadership position that
speech needs to convince your peers that
you are the best one for the job think
about a job interview you need to show a
potential employer that you have the
skills and attributes necessary for that
position and think about the college
admissions process you need to show
colleges that you you are a great fit
for their school I'm here to tell you
that effective communication is a skill
that you can practice and it's something
that each and every one of you watching
this has the ability to master even if
you're introverted effective
communication ultimately boils down to
two questions who's your audience and
what are you trying to accomplish and I
think as a student most of the time
you're trying to convince someone older
than you that you possess certain
attributes the skill that you really
have to master at the end of the day is
storytelling at some point in your
academic career you'll probably have to
tell story about a time you showcase
maturity leadership initiative
compassion teamwork unfortunately this
won't be the video where I break that
down because that's a whole another
discussion but I might write about it in
my newsletter so be sure to sign up for
it the link is in the description all
right guys and with that we have wrapped
up today's video please let me know what
you think about these videos where I
talk more about life philosophies and
principles rather than study tips these
sorts of videos are pretty fun to make
and with that I will see you again next
week
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