I think Paul's logic here is subtly backwards... "It doesn't matter much where a given individual went to college." From Y-Combinator's perspective, yes, I'm

I think Paul's logic here is subtly backwards... "It doesn't matter much where a given individual went to college." From Y-Combinator's perspective, yes, I'm sure that's true. The people they're looking at are self-selected, and pretty much guaranteed to be smart, motivated and well-educated, which means that all Y-Combinator needs to do is worry about how they think - not where they were taught. But that's after the fact. To someone deciding what college to go to, or where to send their children, I think the choice is still very important. "someone with a real thirst for knowledge will be able to find a few smart people to learn from at a school that isn't prestigious at all." True, of course. But where does that thirst for knowledge come from? With the right support, or the right teachers, perhaps that party animal would have changed his ways. As far as I'm concerned, _that_ is really the purpose of good schools. In Y-Combinator terms, it's not that they make a founder more likely to succeed: it's that they make him more likely to try being a founder in the first place.