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Ask HN: Will Y Combinator accept you if you don't come from MIT/Stanford/etc...

12 points by jdefr89 ↗ HN
I have this strange idea that Y-Combinator has a bias towards Ivy Legue applicants. Is this factual? It seems like the majority of startups from them have founders that are all from MIT (look at dropbox for example). Does someone who goes to a regular public university or none at all even have a shot? Any examples?

17 comments

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steventruong
Not true at all. I know the founders of MixRank and HelloFax had no such background (among others).
jdefr89
That is just two... Look at all the others who are from such backgrounds
mohene1
This is a good observation, What is the rough percentage of those who don't attend MIT/Stanford/Berkeley/Harvard who have huge start-ups? Is it the same as presidents not from Yale/Harvard? Major Southern musicians not from Athens,Nashville,Atlanta, New Orleans, Memphis...?
mirsadm
Chances are those people are high achievers outside of University as well. If you are really capable and have created cool stuff then I doubt it will matter much.
mohene1
You realize achieving is heavily dependent of connections right?
glimcat
You realize "go forth and build cool stuff" is, in many domains, about a million times easier than it was even just ten years ago?
yaliceme
You realize that "connections" can be cultivated right?
mohene1
at will, that easy? please tell me how
ewokhead
OP:

One thing is for sure if you don't try you won't have the chance to find out.

Actually, I am going to apply for the new YC round. Think about it, if you are in the same round as I, then we can be the guys with no college degree. The worst thing they can say is "No." The word "no" should not scare you much.

To make you feel better, I was homeless and hitchhiked to San Francisco, I had a rap sheet (that has since been expunged), I dropped out of high school in 9th grade, went to college but never finished and my father was dead and I hardly knew him. Does any of this stuff make me special? Nope. Not at all. But if I am going to try, with all of that stuff behind me, you better damn try.

If you feel you are a misfit. Join the club. Sometimes life is a bit different for others.

Yes, you have a chance. You won't have one if you sit here and ask about your chances though.

That is my "feel good" inspirational for the day.

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[dead] DontGiveAShit
hopefully they see this when they review your application.....my comment not yours
[dead] DontGiveAShit
hopefully they see this when they review your application.....my comment not yours
diwank
You have a rock solid point there. IMHO, a very important thing a lot of people don't understand is that there is no 'magic' in real life. Success is not easy to come by. You have to keep working on going from where you are and where you want to be.

Extensive networking. Learning things. Acquiring new skills. And making stuff.

That's it. Even if you do make it to YC, there is no guarantee that you'll succeed. In fact, it's more likely that your startup will fail than not. Start a startup if you truly have to (just want to is not enough). And go start working.

It may seem like a paradox but your chances of getting into YC are higher if you don't need them as bad (ie you already have a product that people love). In plain english, be successful to be successful. Think it through, get a good friend along, brainstorm and make something. Figure out how you'll get past the inertia involved in making things. Talk to people. Network. Iterate.

To be very honest it does help if you are from MIT/Harvard. But, you can always substitute that with a strong portfolio. To re-iterate ewokhead's point: yes, you do have a chance if you create it yourself.

castlerobot
Another aspect could be that founders from the Ivy League schools have a better chance of meeting co-founders at school who are similar in terms of being technically capable, high-achieving, interested in creating startups, etc.

Being from an oil and gas town, I didn't meet anyone in my university classes who dreamed of anything besides a corporate job. I'm very lucky that I had friends with similar goals, or I'd never be able to create a startup.

Besides that, while you're still an unproven entrepreneur, people can only judge you on your resume, portfolio, background, etc. Fair or not, graduating from an Ivy League school does provide you with some credibility.

However, once you have an actual product and traction, where you go to school doesn't matter at all. Just focus on your product and you'll be fine.

pg
Yes, of course. I analyzed this a few batches ago. I don't remember the exact numbers but elite universities accounted for a minority of founders in that batch.
Zimahl
The 'Ivy League' is an athletic conference which includes Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Pennsylvania, Princeton, and Yale. While it tends to be associated with top-tier universities, it definitely does NOT include Stanford or Cal Berkeley (both Pac-12), or MIT.
psycho
Guess, you just be able to show your ability to "hack system" - no matter wich university you have graduated from. Read this very carefully - http://ycombinator.com/howtoapply.html - and try. It' true that "no" can be the worst case anyway.