An academic Great Gatsby Curve – How much academic success is inherited?

Getting into a PhD program requires a lot of preparation soon after entering college. Having a parent with a PhD probably helps a lot to guide their child towards the necessary steps to get into a good program. I was totally clueless and thought just a high GPA would suffice and I had to spend 3 years improving my credentials to get into a PhD program. A lot of my peers had parents who were professors.

This is laughable.

It's nepotism and it's enshrined in the recommendation letter system.

The fact that GRE is a joke and that in the USA undergrad, even at the elite level, is usually just a glorified partying program doesn't help either.

Undergrad is definitely not a "glorified partying program", not even at (most) state schools.

Its basically a filter on who can stick with a program for an extended period of time. You know, skills you need if you going to do a 5-7 year PhD.

It certainly doesn't prepare you for research, unless you specifically seek out certain opportunities.

Although ironically, it turns out the 4.0 GPA types may not make the best researchers - at least in experimental science. Better GPA make better grad students up to a certain point - then after a certain point (around 3.5-3.6) there is a negative correlation (except medical school where that doesn't happen). I've heard this from multiple professors.

> You know, skills you need if you going to do a 5-7 year PhD.

You do realize that a PhD in Europe is usually 3 years right?

What might be the reason?

In the the US the PhD is normally part of the masters program (MS/MA) which is earned at the same institution. Usually this takes two years after undergrad. Some can a five year accelerated undergrad + masters, and there are people that finish undergrad in three years. However even then they will want you take take additional courses at the same institution, so it would often be a wash.

In experimental science, the PhD phase after masters typically takes three to five years. So a total of seven years for MS + PhD would not be unusual. For other programs, such as math and humanities, it is normally shorter, but less than five years for masters + PhD would be unusual.