Many of these students ultimately end up going into finance or consulting, not because they were particularly excited about that as a career path but because it’s the easiest high-status next step from their in-retrospect-poorly-chosen major. Unfortunately, those are also career paths that require long hours and where the work is often meaningless. While I’m sure that finance and consulting are the right career choice for some elite college graduates, I’d be surprised if it was the best choice for nearly 50% of them.
But the pay is so much more too. This means you can retire sooner and then use the free time to find meaning. It also means you have more money to fund your hobbies and interests, and also just having a nice standard of living is good too, and not having to worry so much about unpaid bills, medical costs, etc. . People who have crappy jobs also work long hours too and find the work meaningless.