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@Sakky: I think one reason people go to extreme's of the scale is that they are scared of losing the values that they hold dear. For many people crazily enough, money and a comfortable life is not what they want. They want to invent things, discover things, etc etc. Going the Sloan route and making lots of money for little pain may be what some people want, but for others, it's the equivalent of letting go of their childhood dreams to be a rocket scientist, marine biologist, underwater basket weaver, etc. And I personally feel that following my childhood dreams is far more important to me than anything else.
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Thinking about this topic more, let me now add what I think is specific to the point that jessiehl brought up.
Again, you mention the notion of pursuing your childhood dreams. But, along with what jessiehl said, nobody's chidhood dream includes being taunted by others that their desired major isn't "hardcore enough". Nobody dreams of dealing with 'discipline snobs' (as jessiehl put it). Nobody dreams of taking classes, or even entire entire majors, that they don't actually care about, just to prove their 'toughness' (another point that jessiehl brought up).
That's the point that jessiehl and I have been making: a lot of MIT students aren't really pursuing their childhood dreams anyway. Now, to be fair, I am not claiming that this is something specific to MIT; indeed, I know for a fact that it happens at other schools. But it simply demonstrates that the choice between your childhood dream or, say, the Sloan School is really a
false choice for many students for the simple fact is plenty of students aren't following their childhood dream anyway.