[pjlegato]

I'm not sure what you are calling for here. The YC interview process is a merit-based system.

It doesn't matter who you are, where you went to school, or what family connections you have. It's an open application available to anyone in the world to sell some venture capitalists on the merit of your ideas. How does it get any more merit-based than that?

[Kinnard]

I'm sure those things do actually matter(family connections could turn into a Friend's and Family round; the school you went to could mean you learned how to hack when others didn't).