*nods* Yeah, almost none of us were first-generation college students that I can think of. It was also a university-cultural thing; I went to the kind of place where, we used to joke, it cut off a lot of career paths because the only acceptable careers were law, medicine, business, consulting, or academia. It was a joke, but there was a lot of truth to it. A lot of us ended up in industry after a while, but I can't think of anyone who went directly unless it was on the business side. (And still anecdata, as you say!)
I tried to make a related point at a conference in February where I was surrounded by grad students, postdocs, and professors, and I GOT SUCH PUSHBACK.
WHAT?! I mean, I can kind of understand getting pushback from professors, but grad students???? You know, maybe they're too much in the middle of it? I don't think I would have been able to articulate this in grad school myself, it was just more of this confused feeling of "I don't understand why I'm not as good at school as I used to be!" It wasn't until I was out of that environment and had something to compare it to, I think, that I could see how different it really was.
Re: incentives and names
I tried to make a related point at a conference in February where I was surrounded by grad students, postdocs, and professors, and I GOT SUCH PUSHBACK.
WHAT?! I mean, I can kind of understand getting pushback from professors, but grad students???? You know, maybe they're too much in the middle of it? I don't think I would have been able to articulate this in grad school myself, it was just more of this confused feeling of "I don't understand why I'm not as good at school as I used to be!" It wasn't until I was out of that environment and had something to compare it to, I think, that I could see how different it really was.