Somewhat less cynical advice that I'll give to young people: Go to college, at least for a little while, and get a part-time job or an internship. Companies will hire a college student with little to no experience, but not a college graduate with little to no experience.
Many people only figure this out when it's too late.
Also, college and internships are the best places to create social relationships with people with money. Remember that even though you may be intimidated by all of the fanciness and money around you in those environments, this is a period of time that rich people are actually slumming (assuming you're not at an expensive private/ivy league college) and will likely come into contact with more people that are out of their class than at any other point in their lives. A good number of people you can meet in highly contested internships are in the last non-managerial/executive job they'll ever have.
That's a more cynical take on it than I was intending.
I was thinking of one's college internship as an opportunity to get practical experience and prove yourself as a competent person instead of just a place to add rich folks to your network.
I totally understood your intention and agree. I didn't mean to recharacterize your comment as saying that college and internships were just a place to meet people with money; I meant to add that they were also maybe the best place to meet people with money.
Many people only figure this out when it's too late.