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Early Decision

blog.ycombinator.com

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Re: Early Decision

#21

Post by sadface »

codingdave wrote: post #7

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 walk…

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...

Re: Early Decision

#22

Post by rurcliped »

joncalhoun wrote: post #18
lutorm wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You actually go into a legally binding contract to attend the school? I've never heard of such a thing. Do they sue you for breach if you don't show up?

If you don't show with "good" reason (finances, health issue, etc) they usually do nothing. If you don't show with a "bad" reason then what they do varies, but I've never heard of someone being sued. Instead it seems to be things like, "we will tell your high school and it may be mentioned if you try to apply to another university."

It's documented at https://www.nacacnet.org/globalassets/documents/advocacy-and... as "if a candidate has been admitted Early Decision, then the college may notify the candidate’s high school and other colleges of the candidate’s application status." This is linked from https://www.nacacnet.org/advocacy--ethics/SPGP-NACAC-Code-of... on the NACAC's website.

Re: Early Decision

#23

Post by sokoloff »

codingdave wrote: post #7

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 walk…

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.

Re: Early Decision

#24

Post by lacker »

davemp wrote: post #20

Odd. This seems to go against one of PG's essays. > School > > That's what I'd advise college students to do, rather than trying to learn about "entrepreneurship." "Entrepreneurship" is something you learn best by doing it. The examples of the most successful founders make that clear. What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. College is an incomparable opportunity to…

What part of this essay is in conflict? The essay is advising that you not take entrepreneurship classes, but instead take classes in futuristic stuff like genetics. It doesn't have anything to do with whether it should be possible to apply to YC early.

Re: Early Decision

#25

Post by davemp »

lacker wrote: post #24
davemp wrote: post #20

Odd. This seems to go against one of PG's essays. > School > > That's what I'd advise college students to do, rather than trying to learn about "entrepreneurship." "Entrepreneurship" is something you learn best by doing it. The examples of the most successful founders make that clear. What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. College is an incomparable opportunity to…

What part of this essay is in conflict? The essay is advising that you not take entrepreneurship classes, but instead take classes in futuristic stuff like genetics. It doesn't have anything to do with whether it should be possible to apply to YC early.

You raise a good point.

I see it encouraging students to come up with ideas for YC companies inorganically. Obviously that is not the intent, but I see it as a very likely side effect.

If the student organically has a great idea, then sure this has nothing to do with it. For the ones that didn't and wasted time in college? I guess they should have read some of PG's essays. ;)

Re: Early Decision

#26

Post by codetrotter »

davemp wrote: post #20

Odd. This seems to go against one of PG's essays. > School > > That's what I'd advise college students to do, rather than trying to learn about "entrepreneurship." "Entrepreneurship" is something you learn best by doing it. The examples of the most successful founders make that clear. What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. College is an incomparable opportunity to…

Off topic but that essay was great! I’ve read several but not all of PG’s essays and this was one of the ones I hadn’t previously read.

In particular, this struck a cord with me:

> So if you want to find startup ideas, don't merely turn on the filter "What's missing?" Also turn off every other filter, particularly "Could this be a big company?" There's plenty of time to apply that test later. But if you're thinking about that initially, it may not only filter out lots of good ideas, but also cause you to focus on bad ones.

I have a follow-up question to the text I quoted though.

I’ve recently been thinking about a software product that I wish existed but which doesn’t quite exist.

The product I have in mind does seem to fit the criteria laid out in the essay quite well. Even down to the question of “if someone else built it, would you use it?” Yes, I absolutely would.

But what I am wondering is not so much “how big could my company become”, but rather: Is this product idea sufficient to build a startup around at all? Is it even necessary to try and build a startup around it?

Details about the product don’t matter but in short it would be a particular kind of music creation and performance software for the iOS platform.

Actually I can motivate why it should be a startup. Because implementing it will require more people than just myself. I am confident that I can build an MVP on my own, but I am also certain that more man power is needed in order to develop the product into a useful state. Great!

Re: Early Decision

#27

Post by heurist »

codetrotter wrote: post #26
davemp wrote: post #20

Odd. This seems to go against one of PG's essays. > School > > That's what I'd advise college students to do, rather than trying to learn about "entrepreneurship." "Entrepreneurship" is something you learn best by doing it. The examples of the most successful founders make that clear. What you should be spending your time on in college is ratcheting yourself into the future. College is an incomparable opportunity to…

Off topic but that essay was great! I’ve read several but not all of PG’s essays and this was one of the ones I hadn’t previously read. In particular, this struck a cord with me: > So if you want to find startup ideas, don't merely turn on the filter "What's missing?" Also turn off every other filter, particularly "Could this be a big company?" There's plenty of time to apply that test later. But if you're thinking a…

There are a few ways to start a software business:

1. Build a tool and start trying to sell it

2. Survey the market and figure out what's missing, then GOTO 1

When starting with 1 you run the risk of making something no one else wants and will likely need to substantially correct to market values. But if you want the tool to exist and are willing to build it purely for yourself, then you might as well build it. You'll be in a much better position for fundraising if you do, and if nothing else you can add it to your portfolio for your next job search.

Also keep in mind that markets do not need to be large to be profitable. Large markets can make reaching customers much easier but also starts you off as a blip in a sea of noise. If you can build something a few customers love, warts and all, then you're well on your way to viability.

Re: Early Decision

#28

Post by josephpmay »

lutorm wrote: post #16
frisco wrote: post #15

"Early Decision" implies that if a student is accepted they are bound to attend that school. It's offered by colleges primarily because it greatly simplifies their yield planning. (Colleges admit many more than they actually can accommodate since they know many won't matriculate.) This program should really be called Early Action, which is non-binding!

You actually go into a legally binding contract to attend the school? I've never heard of such a thing. Do they sue you for breach if you don't show up?

Often the college will blacklist the high school the student went to and nobody will be able to get in early decision for the next few years

Re: Early Decision

#29

Post by klinskyc »

pkaye wrote: post #14
cperciva wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Things are different where I'm from (Canada) so please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but... in what way is early college admission binding on students? Even if a student accepts an offer, can't they just not turn up?

Early admissions are not binding (compared to early action which is less common.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_admission Many colleges also have a waitlist for admissions to backfill from.

Early Decision !== Early Action. Early action is non-binding and is less popular in top-tier colleges. Early action is generally binding - https://professionals.collegeboard.org/guidance/applications...

There's also restricted early action, which restricts what schools you can apply to along side the REA school, but is non-binding

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