[jordan_curve]

This makes sense as graduate school gets more and more competitive. Getting a tenure track position nowadays often requires being among the best students of a top graduate program. Even just getting into a PhD program can be difficult depending on the subject.

If your parents have graduate degrees or are professors its likely that graduate school was on your radar much earlier in life. You probably had more time to consider what steps you'd need to take to get there. You're also probably more likely to be interested in graduate school at all, since many people don't even view it as an option for themselves at all.