Just want to add that parents play a major role. My parents, being highly educated and well off financially themselves, put enormous pressure on us to do well in school. We grew up with the idea that nothing surpasses the importance of performance in school. No (or little parties), no clubbing, no going out, we sacrificed our teenage years studying and as a result, that hard sacrifice paid out. It seems to me that the huge sacrifices we made are not accounted for at all (as if they don't exist) and the article only focuses on the parents financial status as a driver of success when in reality, talking with many or these students, is not the major driving factor, but the family culture and pressure from parents to perform in academia.