Back in high school they didn’t call it “soft skills,” but everyone knew who had it. Now a new study supports what every high school kid already knows: Being nice, being on time, getting involved in extra-curricular activities, in short being liked, is every bit as important as being smart. 

This study conducted at the University of Illinois shows that ten years out of high school, students with good social skills were doing better financially than their less adept peers.

Social skills, extracurricular activities in high school pay off later in life