Success needs luck too. In academia specifically, try to consider be exposed to positive serendipity.
Another point: unecessary signaling games makes some fields more prone to ad-hoc work like lateral publications.
Finally, If you learn how to code, then probably will end in experimental research. Statistics will help. Don't forget the errors.
To further elaborate the question: What are the most universally and most useful skills one could learn at a university? Currently, I am studying physics as an undergraduate and I am thinking about my career options. I have gotten opinions in other forums as well but I would really like to hear your thoughts and I also think that other LessWrongers would find such a list useful. To give you a rough idea of what I mean I have two examples:
What are some other skills along this line that are universally useful?