From my own experience in academia I was surprised by how many of my peers went into academia because they were expected to do so by their parents, who were also academics. It's a smallish sample, but ~90% of the people I talked to never considered other careers paths. Their parents were academics, so it's just natural that they become one too. They already knew this ever since high school.
As someone who got into academia "by chance" this was quite a shock to me.
As someone who got into academia "by chance" this was quite a shock to me.