Couldn't one say the same thing about the Stanford admissions board or the Google hiring board? They're extremely smart people expending a lot of effort on the

Couldn't one say the same thing about the Stanford admissions board or the Google hiring board? They're extremely smart people expending a lot of effort on the problem of selecting the most likely to succeeds from a group of candidates. I guess it's an issue of defining the ultimate goal. If the ultimate goal is being a co-founder of a successful startup then YC is likely the key penultimate step in the ultimate achievement whereas Google and Stanford are potential credential traps. But if the ultimate goal is a PHD at Stanford or a research fellowship at Google, then maybe YC is the credential trap erroneously viewed as a step on the path?