@Cirques: your post is almost as ridiculous as that of Epimetheus, and I’ll tell you why.
“But are you passionate about learning something, for the sake of learning it?”
One Princeton admitted student that I know told me(a few months before the application process started) that he’s not passionate about his intended major. At that time, he was improving some already great EC’s related to that major, and I asked him: “Then why you’re still doing it?”. He answered: "Because now it’s too late to change it. " 
Furthermore, he believed that high achievers in that specific field(like those who get 8000 lines on Wikipedia) should get a life, because they are very unhappy at root. 
Another guy, who got into Harvard, told me a few months ago: “Had I not bothered with the EC’s, I would’ve spent time better, and would’ve been much happier”. He was talking about EC’s related to his major.
“Do you think about something from the moment you get out of bed, and have the idea or passion spinning around inside?”
Oh, yes. Getting into an Ivy to earn some extra monies, to become the hero of all slavish people around, etc, etc…
Bottom line: stop believing that HYP is God. You talk as if HYP is Karma, they punish you for your sins, and the sin of those who did not get in is not being passionate enough.Actually, they have NO WAY to assess anyone’s passion. They have NO WAY to assess anyone’s intelect. And even if they had, perhaps some things matter more than passion and intelect.