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by codingdave 2831 days ago
Early decision plans for colleges are not without their disadvantages, the biggest being that it forces a decision before the student has the time to know what all of their options and offers may be. This is frequently mitigated by financial aid packages that compensate for the loss of choice, but even so, such plans have the downside of not knowing what other packages might have come to fruition.

YC seems to be walking that same path - seeking a commitment before the student knows all the choices that may be available post-graduation. Is there an intent to also give some incentive to compensate for that? Or is YC not asking for a commitment, and instead just making it an invitation that can be taken or not?
3 comments
sadface 2831 days ago
Despite the name, it's probably less about mirroring college applications and more about competing for top undergrad/grad students who would otherwise be recruiting for companies like FB, Google, Bain, etc. When I was in grad school, the top tier firms started recruiting in the fall and their incoming graduates had all accepted their full-time offers before winter break. I believe this is the same for undergrad.

In a lot of ways, you could think about this as giving students more optionality as they will have the opportunity to consider YC alongside other extremely compelling opportunities. It's smart for YC to try and get in front of students when they're in a better mindset to evaluate that tradeoff.

I'm sure there are a lot of students who would have be great YC candidates but end up signing a Google offer in the fall and just stay there for years because the pay is so good it doesn't make sense to leave...

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dcole2929 2831 days ago
It doesn't appear to be binding so there really isn't any downside I can see.
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stefanpie 2831 days ago
Then isn't that more analogous to Early Action which is nonbinding yet still being able to apply and hear your decision earlier.
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sokoloff 2831 days ago
I think admission to the summer batch early is compensation enough (and if an applicant doesn't agree, they simply elect to not apply early decision, right?)

Having the plan nailed down that early may allow you to think and develop the idea differently than if you're not sure whether you're doing YC or working a job, what city you'll live in, etc.

Since it's optional for the applicant, I don't see any significant downside that would require an extraordinary amount of additional incentive.

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