YC is another credential. It's more closely related to the dreaded college (dun dun duhhhhh) than it is to something like an MSCE.

Let's compare the US college experience with YC:

Admission is based on a mix of objective and subjective factors: [✓]

Temporary Poverty: [✓]

Build a network of professional contacts: [✓]

Graduate owing somebody somewhere a big chunk of your potential lifetime net worth: [✓]

Put it on CV regardless of whether you do well: [✓]

(In Australia it's not as clear. For one thing, Australian admissions used to be entirely about high school examination scores. No interviews, no essays. Just the single number, please. Basically like every university requiring the SAT and only the SAT.)