When I went to grad school I was entirely unprepared for how many of my peers would have parents in academia.

I certainly don't resent them, and in some cases having academic parents sounds kind of tough, but boy would it have made my life simpler if I grew up knowing how the sausage is made.

Of course, none of this would be a problem if academics were transparent and candid about their cultural and professional expectations and actually promoted a culture that stigmatized elitism but didn't stigmatize naive questions.

This thread has gotten big enough that I feel the need to clarify that this is not a subtweet OR a shot at a group of people (including many people I adore), just a comment about a strange form of privilege *distinct* from having wealthy parents or parents with bachelors degrees.

Lots of people are responding to this by saying "my professor parents didn't give me ANY help with my academic career." Thank you for your input, but unfortunately I am not in grad school to become a therapist and I cannot help you.

So many exhausting replies/DMs. No, this was not an attack on children of academics, and no, it was not an attempt to sideline other (and more substantial) forms of power or privilege in academia. Please project your anxieties & frustrations on someone else's tweets, thank you.