Oh please, no one is acting like anyone’s futures are ruined.
If you don’t have enough ambition to seek out opportunities whether it is find out about competitions, or at your college, you probably aren’t going to do that well in environments in which people are ambitious. Do you honestly believe that is either saying their futures are ruined (well, that means that you must believe that unless you go to a top school, you are ruined) or controversial (do you believe that you can do well without ambition)?
As for your example, I know of some really smart STEM students who had very little ambition and they didn’t do anything interesting in college, didn’t apply to any graduate schools and are now some of the smartest people working in retail at minimum wage. So my anecdote cancels out yours. LOL.