... A*-tup ...
I appreciate all the great and serious responses, but I'm slightly disappointed that nobody acknowledged how great that pun was ... Maybe my pun skills need work ...
I think, you should start out with a larger company, which has a team with at least one senior dev.
Usually, startups need to move fast and consist of hype-driven young people, often without too much experience. However, in the first years, you should take it slow and careful, learn the basics and learn them good. You should get to know what is important and how certain things can be done and what effects they have. To put it into a nutshell: you should have mentors how show you the ropes.
When I finished my studies, I was ready to change stuff and I was the first developer of my kind in the whole department. I knew lots of things and many things better than my colleagues. However, I failed hard at many things, because I could not get the necessary guidance to slow the F down.
Start with a Startup, since they are lean, not enough mature in the market, and they accept mistakes.
You will learn a lot at a startup since they tend to work with latest Technologies, minimal Legacy Code.
Once you feel you got a grasp of what you are doing, and you've tested and played around enough with stacks and technologies, switch to another startup with different stack or if they have something that you need Because these first 3~4 years of experience will judge your career path.
After these 4 years look for a company that guarantee what you are looking for from the personal perspective (money, stability, environment, ...)
I think the start-up life can be hard for a beginner.
Straight out of college, I would recommend going to a mid-level or a large organization, know how the business works and learn your trade.
Once that's done and you believe you can handle a little bit more, move to a start-up if you've to.
Like many things the answer to this depends on what you want in life:
I prioritized a few items on my list and sacrificed some of the other options in order to get the items I wanted most.
Rob Chaves
For the first experience, any company would be a great option. But if you have excellent knowledge, skills and great ambitions, then you can try to find a job in a cool company. And it's better to prepare for the interview properly, I started by preparing all the necessary documents and a personal statement. To get noticed, among other candidates you need a writing a good statement of purpose . I did this and got a good option, as for a beginner.