Having met a bunch of YC companies now, I wouldn't say the Ivies are exactly under-represented but it always seems like there's more Stanford than UPenn and more UWaterloo than Cornell. If school means anything it's the quality of their CS programs.
Don't let your school hold you back from applying :)
Is UPenn particularly good? It’s the first time I hear about it in these discussions. Stanford on the other hand, I always hear about (isn’t that where Page and Brin were at?)
I think GP is saying that YC founders tend to be more techy, entrepreneurial types than Wharton MBA types. I'm not sure though, there's a lot left to the imagination.
going of a tangent but would you say it's worth going to a similarly ranked uni(oxford) if one wants to go into entrepreneurship given its more 'academic' emphasis? as opposed to somewhere like UCSD where it's not as prestigious but close to the tech scene.(bonus points for california weather ha!)
Definitely go to Oxford over UCSD. There’s a world of difference in difficulty to get into, and like the other person says, SD isn’t the biggest tech scene unless biotech is your focus. UC schools are also huge and impersonal, part of what lets them offer decently cheap tuition to in-state students; but if you’re not in-state, I don’t think you’re getting the best value for your money. My answer might change if the alternative were Berkeley.
UCSD is not really near the tech scene, so I wouldn't choose it for that. San Diego is a world away from the Bay Area. The weather in SD is definitely the best in the world, though.
The optimal path for someone in your position is to go to Oxford, then get a job/do a master's at Stanford.
Don't let your school hold you back from applying :)