Balance and individual happiness is important for success. This includes balancing academics, social life, work and leisure time.

“I would personally define success as reaching a comfortable spot where you are excited to wake up in the morning, and you don't have anything throughout the day that you genuinely dread doing.”

“And socially, at the end of the day, I feel I'm good. I don't feel isolated or anything like that. I went to bed satisfied, not even happy, just content.”

Success entails learning from failures, personal development, and working towards your goals. Personal development can include communication skills, social skills, and time management.

"That is my definition of success, and I will stick by it. I work damn hard to go from being a failing student to now getting A's and B's. That's success. Success has changed over the years. And to me, being happy, even as a failing student and as a high-achieving student, both are fine. As long as I'm happy, I consider this success."

“Success to me is failing over and over until you find a satisfactory point. It's the continuation of learning from your failures, and instead of giving up, you keep going until you reach your end goal. That's success to me.”

Grades and financial wealth are important, but it's crucial to consider other aspects of success like intellectual growth, pursuing personal interests, navigating individual life paths, and overall fulfillment.

“That's what a successful run at WPI looks like, because obviously, WPI is not a cakewalk; it's work-intensive. There are expectations through the roof, not only from the teachers but also from the people around you. There's competition, and it's cutthroat out here. So you know what I mean. As long as you keep going and persevere through all the noise and the mud, that's huge.”

“I would define success as still being able to keep going. So I think as long as I didn't give up, I'm still successful.”

The ability to support oneself and their family is a key aspect of success for students at WPI. This could involve achieving financial stability or maintaining one's expertise and skills for future work.

“I define success as doing what you enjoy, but also feeling secure in what you're doing. So it's about finding that balance between having pieces that you can enjoy while still making sure that you're doing everything you need to do.”

"Personally, I think success has to be a mix of personal satisfaction with your day-to-day life, and you know, that part of it. I think it also has to do with satisfaction. Actually, I guess satisfaction is a good way to put it, because I think financial success is very intertwined."

Having a support network is an important part of success for students at WPI. The transition to university life can be challenging, and often exacerbating for marginalized students. Having a solid network of friends can provide social and emotional support.

"I feel that social success is being with friends who are genuine. Because at WPI, I meet many people, and though I know a lot of them since it's a small school, the percentage of people that I consider more than just acquaintances is small. To me, social success is having people that I'm actually close with, not just friendly with. If I were really struggling, I could go talk to them."

"So, when I'm stressed and I feel I have someone to talk to about it, I'm not thinking, 'Oh, I feel so alone, woe is me?' You know, that feeling comes up for everyone, but having a support network is important. It's not just that I rely on this one person; I rely on multiple people."