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<p>When people around you are highly motivated and hard-working, then you will tend to be highly motivated and hard-working. </p>
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<p>This is the single factor that made Harvard stand out for me. The extraordinary things that my classmates were doing made me (1) want to do equally extraordinary things and (2) believe that I could do them too, if I tried. How about planning an annual six-continent world tour for your student-directed singing group? Or researching, writing, and publishing a best-selling series of budget travel guides? Or inviting a sitting head of state or A-list Hollywood star to be a guest at a student event? Or taking a year off from college to be a speechwriter for Hillary Clinton? Being surrounded by 19-year-olds who were doing all those things, and doing them well, completely changed my ideas about what was possible in my life.</p>