After applying the old questions:
"Are you beautiful because I love you? or
Do I love you because you are beautiful?"
to
"Are you smart because you go to Stanford? or
Are you at Stanford because you are smart?"
it's worth noting that, all things being equal, selective colleges/ universities tend to
admit students with intrinsic traits/characteristics that high-paying jobs (say, investment banking, strategy consulting in America, etc) tend to value.
Bill Gates was admitted to Harvard because Harvard admissions officers thought
he was/is smart (regardless of how they defined smartness to serve their admission purposes).
Even without his degree, Bill Gates has gone on to make tons of money, BECAUSE,
well, he has remained smart.
In either case, Bill Gates' instrinsic smartness was/is pretty much the same, and that
has made all the difference.
Bottom line?
Regardless of whether you go to Harvard or Tri Chandra college, it pays to be intrinsically smart (in both academic and practical sense) to make the most of
life's opportunities.
******
That said, for Nepali students from Nepal though, I would say though I have no hard proof, graduating from pretty much ANY college/university in America leads to a
higher income down the road -- either in Nepal or in America -- IN COMPARISON
to (similar-trait) peers who stay back in Nepal for college/university studies.
So:
Advice to smart young Nepali students:
Go to America or institutions in other countries (except India's Bihar) to earn more later.
Go to more selective colleges in America and other countries to earn even more.
oohi
ashu