It's certainly a better metaphor than boot camp. Though, interestingly, in this case the metaphor is accurate even to the misconceptions. This writer thinks that YC's most important role is as a gatekeeper. That's a common misconception about elite universities too. In fact the most valuable thing about going to one is what you learn there, and so it is with YC too, I think.<p>One way to understand where YC's "center of gravity" is would be to measure how I spend my time.
If YC's role was simply as a gatekeeper, my job would be done as soon as we'd done interviews to select each new group of startups. Boy would life be easy if that were so! In fact about 98% of the work is still ahead at that point.<p>I tried to explain what we actually do here: <a href="http://www.paulgraham.com/ycombinator.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.paulgraham.com/ycombinator.html</a>
There's an additional component other than filtering that YC serves: it provides a pool of talent and experience that helps you out of jams, but without something like 'formal instruction'. The best features of a finishing school and guild (apprentice/journeyman/master) are represented. A community -- not so specialized as a technical or vocational school, but people who are likely to have common drives and purposes, and whose cross-disciplinary skills enhance the whole environment.<p>Maybe a question that needs answering, either by pg or by YC veterans (graduates?) is what additional purpose doesn't YC serve that it needs to?
YC is less like a university (where they teach building blocks) and more like a highly selective vocational school (where your skills are directly applied)
I considered going to grad school or taking that money, time and effort and use it to start a company. It was a very easy choice given my current situation.<p>What made it easier was some friends just finished grad school and now have an average job with slightly higher pay - that doesn't sound appealing.
YC does not look much like a University. Apart from the application process, there is not much to YC that you can find in traditional academia.<p>YC looks like what a University should be. YC is a model that is constantly changing and ameliorating itself using what it learned in previous semester.<p>At YC there are no professors. There are mentors. OMG. Imagine the amount of knowledge students would actually accumulate if they were taught from a young age to find solutions to problems and not take someone else's answer for it.<p>By the time you get to university you have already developed a curious mind and if you were to use that for 6 years to challenge your own thoughts on any subject and seek your own answers, you will come to the work place with a hell of a ability. Mentors should be available when we need them or to frequently stop and take a look at what students work on and only only suggest how they can do better or how to look at problems in a better fashion<p>YC tells you "Ok, so you want to be the solution to that problem, go ahead wow me". There is no A or B. There is only a continuous effort to fix the problem and after you fix it, keep improving the solution.<p>YC is not like a University, but Universities (Heck the entire Schooling system) can learn from this model.