The only reason I'm really here is to find some CS students to help me startup. But it wouldn't happen without my connection to the school's CS groups.
In the end, I doubt it matters one way or another where you go. As someone mentioned, many successful founders didn't go to ivy league schools. Jobs dropped out after 6 months at Reed. You'll decide how far you go.
I am 17 and I posted this because I received my admissions letters this week. I got full rides to every state college I applied but I got wait listed at Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and Caltech. I really don't know how to think of this. Can I still start a successful startup? Can I still be more successful than an MIT undergrad? Is there something about these colleges that makes students there better or is it completely dependent on the student's personality, work ethics, etc.. to be successful?
Sorry if the question seems out of whack. I am probably overwhelmed right now by the admissions letters.
Stanford is a good place to go if you want to start a startup simply because it's in the middle of Silicon Valley and thus infused with startup culture (in a way that MIT definitely isn't). But you already seem to have that down.
However, where you go to college can have a great effect on how much fun you have and how much you learn, and that is the most important thing. I'd just go wherever seems to you to have the best intellectual vibe.
If anything just laugh off any rejection you get and keep working towards your startup path.
What states?
If you have the entrepreneurial spirit in you, constantly remind yourself that you have it, regardless of where you are and what people tell you. If you have it as a highschooler, great. The eye for opportunity is a great gift, and colleges do not know how to measure this, nor can they teach you how to acquire it.
I don't think you should worry if a school will turn you into a successful entrepreneur. The greater concern should be people to bounce ideas off of, and potentially work with. Talent is everywhere; train yourself to spot it. That is an asset second to none.
I must agree with pg though. Vibe is very important. It's a lot more enjoyable to build stuff when everybody around you is talking about building stuff too. Where I went to school, people spend more time talking about philosophy :)
I think what you want from a University is a place that help you with your invention. If you have an idea they can help you get a patent (Unlike Andrews) and then you as the inventor can share some of the profit. Not all Universities do that and this is the one thing I would emphasize from a University. This can also help you establish a better record for jobs or startups.