Congratulations, you got into Stanford University. You beat 22 other candidates vying for each coveted place. For you, competition doesn’t quite stop there: being best in class boosts your prospects. But the real fighting now will be over 7,100 undergraduates and 9,400 graduate students, not between them. Technology giants and sexy startups all want this brainpower. So do venture capital (vc) funds. All go to sometimes absurd lengths to get it.
