8 ms·

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising so

by sdan 6y ago

I'm a senior in high school and decided to. I started a startup and got invited for a YC interview(got rejected) and am onto another startup which is raising soon. Despite how much success/failure/I learn I endure, college name matters... a lot. I snuck into Nuro's open house last year and found they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students (I can say this because I was a minor at the time of signing their NDAs) College name matters, especially when you're starting out (which can impact where you evenetually end up... whether its working for a startup or working at a cool VC firm) In fact most of the time, the people who've said: "don't go to college" are the same people who go to Cornell, UPenn, and Stanford and probably don't realize how much of a network/presitgie gives them to get them where they are now.

anonymoushn 6y ago
I went to a non-notable state school and have no trouble getting hired. I would advise people who plan to go to non-notable state schools to just go straight to industry instead.
- karatestomp 6y ago
  Having the piece of paper, if you can get it (relatively) cheap, is very nice just to avoid ever having to talk about not having it. It's a whole conversation in many interviews (or a conversation that doesn't happen but that you'll be stressed about happening) that you can totally erase. Evening, weekend, and online classes are a thing and can be cheapish, especially if you're not going to a very well-known school (and if you're not, the name of the school is basically irrelevant, so do what's cheap). If you don't already have kids or other time-consuming obligations, working through school part-time over a few years 100% achievable while still having tons of free time. Also look into CLEP tests, as they can kill years (at part-time hours) of college credits quickly and at low cost.
barry-cotter 6y ago
If you’re already decided you’re into startups the network and prestige of Y Combinator will help more than most any college. If you want the stamp of admission to the US ruling class sure, go to where the elite send their children to find someone to marry but otherwise you could do worse than committing to what you actually want instead of chasing a network.
- toyg 6y ago
  YCombinator might well disappear in a few years. Universities tend to last much longer, some of them have been around for centuries. In 50 years something like YC might be a footnote in wikipedia, but I can assure you that most respectable universities will still be around to “guarantee” one’s worth. I never graduated and I was an idiot. Stay in school, kids.
  - sdan 6y ago
    Yes, YC is amazing and I'll probably drop out when (if) I get in. At the moment I'm going to an Ok-ish UC (university of california) and hoping that I'll be able to prove to better colleges that I can bring in big donations later on :) and transfer there before I drop out so at least I'll be able to say "I went to X good college"
  - barry-cotter 6y ago
    Y Combinator might not be around in five years but the professional network that comes of participating in it will remain. If you aren’t sure what you want to do and want to keep as many options as possible open get a degree, but for most purposes any degree will do. If you still want a degree it’s entirely possible to get a regionally accredited degree in a year from Western Governor’s University or a number of others if you’re willing to work hard at it and are exceptionally organized. If you want to know more you can go to degreeforum.net Or if you want to get a Master’s Oxford has one in Software Engineering that will accept work experience in lieu of a degree though each module requires a week’s residency.
inapis 6y ago
>In fact most of the time, the people who've said: "don't go to college" are the same people who go to Cornell, UPenn, and Stanford and probably don't realize how much of a network/presitgie gives them to get them where they are now. Can't emphasize this enough. College is still necessary for something like 95% of the planet's population. If you are not born into wealth or have well connected parents, a college degree is your only way to a better life. You may not learn anything in college but you need that fuckin' piece of paper just for the bureaucratic formalities. A very talented friend of mine was denied the US visa probably because of lack of a bachelor degree.
- sdan 6y ago
  Also want to point out: I'm seriously going to college just for the name + network. I can easily learn everything at home via MIT open courseware or the syllabus many Stanford courses put online nowadays.
  - juped 6y ago
    Be sure to get the 4.0 GPA too - it's very nice to have for surprisingly long. Absolutely don't "challenge yourself". You can do that when you're not being graded on it.
    - nostrebored 6y ago
      I think this very much depends on where you're going. I did not have a stellar GPA in school, but I did take the most challenging courses available to me and it's paid dividends for years. I still work on projects where my college exposure allows me to have a deeper understanding. Working with customers operating at scale, my (in retrospect, amazing) exposure to HPC and distributed computing has been so valuable. But these were the most challenging courses at a top 5 CS school, with some of the brightest researchers alive teaching course material. At another school that calculus is probably closer to what you're saying.
    - toomanybeersies 6y ago
      I haven't been asked what my GPA was since I got my first graduate job (which was a follow on from my internship), which is very convenient because I graduated with a shocking GPA.
WalterBright 6y ago
> college name matters Nobody ever asks me what college I attended. Nobody cares.
- sdan 6y ago
  I think you're right in many scenarios, but in the VC/startup world it def. seems to matter. I've been relentlessly reading people's stories and have been looking into how to get internships at various VC/tech companies and it always comes down to: which college you're going to. Nuro for example had this open house that exclusively invited Harvard/MIT students (i snuck in) and I'm sure there's a lot of similar opportunities that are open to kids in these colleges. In the long term, I'm sure it'll fade away, but starting out matters as to where you will end up (whether you go to X startup or get to work for X VC)
  - toyg 6y ago
    > Nuro for example had this open house that exclusively invited Harvard/MIT students Man, I thought this sort of discriminatory bullshit was limited to incestuous fields like law. Sad to see it infected the tech world as well. Then again, it's a sign that the field is "normalizing".
  - supportlocal4h 6y ago
    You may or may not realize to whom you are replying. Walter may not be overly impressed by names like Nuro. Walter might think that working for some boring non-VC-dependant company like, say, Boeing, is a perfectly reasonable career path. You seem to be very impressed by the likes of Nuro. I would be over the moon to be able to work with Walter at any company. I'd love to just take a class from him at any school of any name.
    - selimthegrim 6y ago
      I know where he went to college and I assure you, Walter's school would not give the VCs problems on that score.
- nurettin 6y ago
dreen 6y ago
> they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students Usually this is a good sign you do not want to be an employee there.

by sdan 6y ago

anonymoushn 6y ago

I went to a non-notable state school and have no trouble getting hired. I would advise people who plan to go to non-notable state schools to just go straight to industry instead.

karatestomp 6y ago
Having the piece of paper, if you can get it (relatively) cheap, is very nice just to avoid ever having to talk about not having it. It's a whole conversation in many interviews (or a conversation that doesn't happen but that you'll be stressed about happening) that you can totally erase. Evening, weekend, and online classes are a thing and can be cheapish, especially if you're not going to a very well-known school (and if you're not, the name of the school is basically irrelevant, so do what's cheap). If you don't already have kids or other time-consuming obligations, working through school part-time over a few years 100% achievable while still having tons of free time. Also look into CLEP tests, as they can kill years (at part-time hours) of college credits quickly and at low cost.

barry-cotter 6y ago

If you’re already decided you’re into startups the network and prestige of Y Combinator will help more than most any college. If you want the stamp of admission to the US ruling class sure, go to where the elite send their children to find someone to marry but otherwise you could do worse than committing to what you actually want instead of chasing a network.

toyg 6y ago
YCombinator might well disappear in a few years. Universities tend to last much longer, some of them have been around for centuries. In 50 years something like YC might be a footnote in wikipedia, but I can assure you that most respectable universities will still be around to “guarantee” one’s worth. I never graduated and I was an idiot. Stay in school, kids.
- sdan 6y ago
  Yes, YC is amazing and I'll probably drop out when (if) I get in. At the moment I'm going to an Ok-ish UC (university of california) and hoping that I'll be able to prove to better colleges that I can bring in big donations later on :) and transfer there before I drop out so at least I'll be able to say "I went to X good college"
- barry-cotter 6y ago
  Y Combinator might not be around in five years but the professional network that comes of participating in it will remain. If you aren’t sure what you want to do and want to keep as many options as possible open get a degree, but for most purposes any degree will do. If you still want a degree it’s entirely possible to get a regionally accredited degree in a year from Western Governor’s University or a number of others if you’re willing to work hard at it and are exceptionally organized. If you want to know more you can go to degreeforum.net Or if you want to get a Master’s Oxford has one in Software Engineering that will accept work experience in lieu of a degree though each module requires a week’s residency.

inapis 6y ago

>In fact most of the time, the people who've said: "don't go to college" are the same people who go to Cornell, UPenn, and Stanford and probably don't realize how much of a network/presitgie gives them to get them where they are now. Can't emphasize this enough. College is still necessary for something like 95% of the planet's population. If you are not born into wealth or have well connected parents, a college degree is your only way to a better life. You may not learn anything in college but you need that fuckin' piece of paper just for the bureaucratic formalities. A very talented friend of mine was denied the US visa probably because of lack of a bachelor degree.

sdan 6y ago
Also want to point out: I'm seriously going to college just for the name + network. I can easily learn everything at home via MIT open courseware or the syllabus many Stanford courses put online nowadays.
- juped 6y ago
  Be sure to get the 4.0 GPA too - it's very nice to have for surprisingly long. Absolutely don't "challenge yourself". You can do that when you're not being graded on it.
  - nostrebored 6y ago
    I think this very much depends on where you're going. I did not have a stellar GPA in school, but I did take the most challenging courses available to me and it's paid dividends for years. I still work on projects where my college exposure allows me to have a deeper understanding. Working with customers operating at scale, my (in retrospect, amazing) exposure to HPC and distributed computing has been so valuable. But these were the most challenging courses at a top 5 CS school, with some of the brightest researchers alive teaching course material. At another school that calculus is probably closer to what you're saying.
  - toomanybeersies 6y ago
    I haven't been asked what my GPA was since I got my first graduate job (which was a follow on from my internship), which is very convenient because I graduated with a shocking GPA.

WalterBright 6y ago

> college name matters Nobody ever asks me what college I attended. Nobody cares.

sdan 6y ago
I think you're right in many scenarios, but in the VC/startup world it def. seems to matter. I've been relentlessly reading people's stories and have been looking into how to get internships at various VC/tech companies and it always comes down to: which college you're going to. Nuro for example had this open house that exclusively invited Harvard/MIT students (i snuck in) and I'm sure there's a lot of similar opportunities that are open to kids in these colleges. In the long term, I'm sure it'll fade away, but starting out matters as to where you will end up (whether you go to X startup or get to work for X VC)
- toyg 6y ago
  > Nuro for example had this open house that exclusively invited Harvard/MIT students Man, I thought this sort of discriminatory bullshit was limited to incestuous fields like law. Sad to see it infected the tech world as well. Then again, it's a sign that the field is "normalizing".
- supportlocal4h 6y ago
  You may or may not realize to whom you are replying. Walter may not be overly impressed by names like Nuro. Walter might think that working for some boring non-VC-dependant company like, say, Boeing, is a perfectly reasonable career path. You seem to be very impressed by the likes of Nuro. I would be over the moon to be able to work with Walter at any company. I'd love to just take a class from him at any school of any name.
  - selimthegrim 6y ago
    I know where he went to college and I assure you, Walter's school would not give the VCs problems on that score.
nurettin 6y ago

dreen 6y ago

> they exclusively invited Harvard/Stanford/MIT students Usually this is a good sign you do not want to be an employee there.