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Re:Paul Graham: News from the Front by michael_nielsen on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @03:31PM (#50654)
Presumably, your data can only show that it doesn't matter what school you went to, conditional on being accepted by YC.

That is a completely different statement than showing that it doesn't matter what school you went to. Your article appears to me like it is conflating the two.

Re:Paul Graham: News from the Front by pg on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @04:57PM (#50695)
No, I'm also considering people we invite for interviews.
Re:Paul Graham: News from the Front by gojomo on Wednesday September 05, 2007 @06:51PM (#50751)
So the conjecture of the essay is some combination of the following:

(1) Conditional on having applied to YC, YC finds that having attended a prestigious college makes one no more likely to be selected for interviews.

(2) Conditional on having been selected for YC interviews, YC finds that having attended a prestigious college makes one no more likely to receive YC support.

(3) Conditional on receiving YC support, YC finds that having attended a prestigious college makes one no more likely to succeed in the market (here defined as visibly thriving within about a year).

Given the initial essay's strong emphasis on market success as the ultimate verifier (paragraphs 5-8), I thought the main idea was (3) -- but if interview invites/subjective-evaluations are a factor, some amount of (1) and (2) are mixed in, too.