It's interesting that "Ivy" has come up multiple times in this discussion, because I guess Ivy is synonymous with prestige. And I'd say prestige helps a little

It's interesting that "Ivy" has come up multiple times in this discussion, because I guess Ivy is synonymous with prestige. And I'd say prestige helps a little but not much if tokenadult's goal is to start a software startup after college. However, a quick note about the Harvard diploma. I have a bunch of Harvard friends, and they're really great people. And the one thing that's interesting about them is almost across the board, they expect to do great things. And this can be both obnoxious and incredibly inspiring. The overwhelming desire to change the world and (for some) absolute conviction that they will is something that I do think gets forged into some people in some institutions like Harvard. That very feeling can be worth it in and of itself. The other thing I'd like to point out is that in general software startups (and the big guys like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Adobe, etc.) that are hiring don't necessarily care as much about Ivies. They care about TOP CS talent. And that's Carnegie Mellon, UIUC, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Caltech, etc. If you want to start a company after college, you want to come out of one of those schools if that's an option. I think I've mentioned this elswhere in this thread, but your peers will push you harder and the competition is great. You'll meet super smart people who will push you to be better, and these can/will be your cofounders in the future. And cofounders will make or break your startup.