The Graduate School Rush

Now that a bachelor's degree is as common as a high school diploma used to be, Americans are in a mad rush to get even more education.

That explains why the number of people with at least some graduate level education grew by an astounding 52 percent between 2000 and 2013, rising from 23 million to 36 million. Today, 32 percent of Americans aged 25 or older have at least a bachelor's degree, 17 percent have graduate school experience, and 12 percent have a graduate degree.

Source: Census Bureau, Educational Attainment in the United States: 2013