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I couldn't agree more. Sometimes it feels like upward mobility is limited in the very institutions we uphold as breaking those boundaries.

bsder 10y ago
Partially. But I suspect it's more a case of attending one of those expensive institutions signals "Having the freedom to fail." If you attended one of those institutions, you have backup if things blow up. People whose parents struggled to send them to college aren't starting startups. They're probably paying off loans and attempting to bank money for 5-10 years. At which point, they probably start a family and still won't be starting a startup.
- unclebucknasty 10y ago
  I don't know about this theory. There is no shortage of people, including right here on HN, who've founded businesses. I'd like to see the rate at which alum from these schools found businesses vs everyone else; also, the percentage of successful founders in both groups. I do think that parentage counts in other ways, including as part of the overall network to which these folks have access.
- morgante 10y ago
  Where do you get these assumptions from? My parents absolutely could not have afforded to pay for college without extremely generous financial aid. Thankfully, that's exactly what elite universities provide. I know plenty of other people who are interested in tech and startups who come from similar circumstances. Also, for the record, if people's parents are genuinely poor then they will not have any loans from an elite university. It's all grant money.
  - dominotw 10y ago
    'Only 3.8 percent of American families make more than $200,000 per year. But at Harvard University, 45.6 percent of incoming freshman come from families making $200,000 or more. A mere 4 percent of Harvard students come from a family in the bottom quintile of US incomes, and only 17.8 percent come from the bottom three quintiles'[1]. We already have an accurate system of measuring privilege in form of parent wealth. 1. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/immorality-college-admissions-2013102945841711416.html http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/immorality-...
    - morgante 10y ago
      I'm not disputing that many students at elite universities have wealthy parents, but you can't just claim that anyone who went to an elite university automatically has wealthy parents. For one thing, it's very unfair to the people who have worked hard to get there despite not having wealthy parents.

bsder 10y ago

Partially. But I suspect it's more a case of attending one of those expensive institutions signals "Having the freedom to fail." If you attended one of those institutions, you have backup if things blow up. People whose parents struggled to send them to college aren't starting startups. They're probably paying off loans and attempting to bank money for 5-10 years. At which point, they probably start a family and still won't be starting a startup.

unclebucknasty 10y ago
I don't know about this theory. There is no shortage of people, including right here on HN, who've founded businesses. I'd like to see the rate at which alum from these schools found businesses vs everyone else; also, the percentage of successful founders in both groups. I do think that parentage counts in other ways, including as part of the overall network to which these folks have access.
morgante 10y ago
Where do you get these assumptions from? My parents absolutely could not have afforded to pay for college without extremely generous financial aid. Thankfully, that's exactly what elite universities provide. I know plenty of other people who are interested in tech and startups who come from similar circumstances. Also, for the record, if people's parents are genuinely poor then they will not have any loans from an elite university. It's all grant money.
- dominotw 10y ago
  'Only 3.8 percent of American families make more than $200,000 per year. But at Harvard University, 45.6 percent of incoming freshman come from families making $200,000 or more. A mere 4 percent of Harvard students come from a family in the bottom quintile of US incomes, and only 17.8 percent come from the bottom three quintiles'[1]. We already have an accurate system of measuring privilege in form of parent wealth. 1. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/immorality-college-admissions-2013102945841711416.html http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/10/immorality-...
  - morgante 10y ago
    I'm not disputing that many students at elite universities have wealthy parents, but you can't just claim that anyone who went to an elite university automatically has wealthy parents. For one thing, it's very unfair to the people who have worked hard to get there despite not having wealthy parents.