Y Combinator introduces ‘Early Decision’ for students who want to finish college first, build later

For decades, Silicon Valley has celebrated the image of the fearless college dropout. Stories of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg walking away from classrooms to build world-changing companies have been retold like modern myths. The underlying message? If you’re serious about building something big, school can wait.

That idea even turned into movements of its own. The Thiel Fellowship, for instance, famously hands $200,000 to promising young entrepreneurs on the condition that they leave college and dive headfirst into company-building.

Y Combinator, the legendary startup accelerator, has often played into this culture too—though not explicitly. Many of its standout alumni, like Dropbox’s Drew Houston, Reddit’s Steve Huffman, and Stripe’s Collison brothers, joined YC while young and never looked back at finishing school.

But now, YC is rewriting the script.

A new path: build later, graduate first

YC has launched a new application track called Early Decision. It’s tailored for students who do want to build startups—but without abandoning their education. Here’s how it works: students can apply while still in school, secure a spot and funding, and then simply defer their YC participation until after graduation.

Think of it as a safety net. A student who applies in fall 2025 could wrap up their degree in spring 2026 and then walk straight into YC’s Summer 2026 batch with funding and mentorship already locked in.

“It’s designed for graduating seniors who want to do a startup but also want to finish school first,” explained Jared Friedman, YC’s managing partner, in the program’s launch video.

Friedman also shared that the idea grew out of countless conversations with students. “Between AI Startup School last summer and more than 20 university trips in the past year, we kept hearing this need. One of YC’s favorite pieces of advice is ‘talk to your users,’ and this is us doing exactly that,” he told growthy.web.

Breaking away from the dropout myth

For years, dropping out almost felt like a rite of passage in the Valley. The narrative was clear: you’re either all-in on your startup or you’re not serious enough. But YC’s announcement challenges that mindset.

It acknowledges that students today are weighing tougher questions—like the staggering costs of college, the long-term trade-offs of leaving early, and the value of having a degree as a foundation.

YC’s shift suggests a more mature perspective: success doesn’t have to mean choosing between your education and your startup dream. Sometimes, you can—and should—do both.

Reducing the pressure, widening the doors

Historically, YC has drawn in young founders—many still in their teens or early twenties—who were faced with an unspoken ultimatum: drop out now or risk missing your shot. Early Decision changes that equation. It removes the pressure and creates a middle ground where finishing school and launching a company can happen sequentially, not competitively.

This new approach could also expand YC’s pipeline to include a broader mix of student founders—those who are ambitious but cautious, passionate but deliberate. In short, it may capture a group of entrepreneurs who would have otherwise held back.

A glimpse of success

To prove the model works, YC points to Spur, an AI-powered quality assurance startup co-founded by Sneha Sivakumar and Anushka Nijhawan. They applied to YC via Early Decision in fall 2023 while still studying. After graduating in May 2024, they joined YC’s Summer 2024 batch—and within months, raised $4.5 million in funding.

Stories like this show how Early Decision can give students both the comfort of finishing their education and the momentum of jumping straight into startup life.

Why this matters

The move is more than just a new application track. It’s a strategic play in a competitive landscape of accelerators, seed funds, and fellowships. YC isn’t just appealing to dropouts anymore—it’s appealing to the ambitious but careful student who doesn’t want to gamble everything on a single decision at age 20.

By introducing Early Decision, YC is betting that the next generation of world-class founders won’t all come from the dropout archetype. Many will graduate and go on to build iconic companies. And YC wants to make sure it has them on board early, before Big Tech jobs, grad school, or rival fellowships pull them away.