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Keeping it simple, go with Caltech. Caltech has a more difficult admissions selection process (may be the most difficult in the world) than Stanford and that reputation carries over. Even from Sakky's comments about it being easier to get a degree from Stanford, looking at it from a different angle, it just means a caltech degree is more solid. Again, splitting hairs here.
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<p>Oh, I don't know about that. There's a big difference between a school being difficult and a school being valued by the market.</p>
<p>Look, the truth is, plenty (probably most) hiring decisions are not based on your ability to survive a difficult program. They're based on networking. I have seen plenty of people work very hard and do exceedingly well in extremely rigorous engineering programs ...and still not get the job offer that they wanted, only to watch other students who didn't work as hard and get worse grades nonetheless get that offer. Usually, it's because the latter people chose to spend less time studying and more time networking and schmoozing to leverage their way in. Stanford, because of its deep ties to the high-tech industry, especially (naturally) in Silicon Valley, is probably a better networking opportunity. </p>
<p>This is particularly true when you're talking about entrepreneurial activities. Startup companies don't have the resources to engage in a formal hiring process. When you're just 2 guys in a garage, you don't have the ability to cast a nationwide net to look for the best possible talent. Almost all startup companies at first, basically hire all the friends of the founders, because that's the best they can do, as at least the founders know who they are. For example, if you look at the history of any of the famous Stanford startups - Sun Microsystems, Cisco, Yahoo, Google, etc. - you will notice that most of the early employees were old Stanford school buddies of the founders. Sure, maybe there were some Caltech engineering students who would have been made for better hires, but like I said, when you're just starting off as 2 guys in a garage, how would you know who they are? At least if you hire your friends, you know who they are and you have a sense of what skills they have, so the "search costs" have already been amortized. Furthermore, at least you know you can get along with your friends. If you bring in a total stranger, even if he's brilliant, you run the risk that you just won't get along. Team chemistry is absolutely vital to the success of any startup. </p>
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Youtube, Myspace, and Facebook may have gotten the owners richer than "high-level" engineers but it's mostly luck. The creators, just did something for fun that turned out to be great for advertising revenue. They won the lottery beyond their wildest imaginations, let alone any type of business "planning".
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<p>Yeah, but that's true of any new technology or any new business. There have been plenty of highly intricate technologies that failed in the market.</p>