It probably took me a bit more than 5 minutes, but I had conversation last night that fits this idea.

The idea to convey is "If you don't actually use the information you obtain, it cannot possibly increase your odds of success"

I went through the Monty Hall Problem (the trick to explaining that one is to generalize to the trillion box case where all but two boxes are eliminated prior to asking whether you want to switch) to get this idea across.

From there you can explain the implications. For example, how through commitment/consistency biases, conformity, and compartmentalization its likely that they aren't actually getting the real life benefits that they could be getting from their degree in biology, or whatever it is.