Hi all,
I’m made countless threads on this forum, all of which saved me from disappointment, worry, anxiety, and simple confusion. I wanted to send one more thread out there to see if you guys have any tips, advice, comments, questions, or anything of the sorts.
Before we begin, I just want to add a disclaimer: this thread is pretty long as my story and background are the core to my application. I encourage you to read it all, but I completely understand if nobody wants to spend the time 
I’ll try to add detailed tl;drs for everyone.
Major: Just see my list in comments
**Info:**White, Canadian, my school is American and fully Online (accredited). Nobody in my family is going to college, except my mom did get a degree from a university. No history of getting into ‘good’ schools.
Stats: 33 ACT with Writing. 4.0 GPA (almost, I think? 3.96 or something maybe) and straight As in my APs. I am planning on taking two SAT II tests in the fall: Math 1 (maybe 2, not sure yet) and Literature.
Tuition: Full pay international.
Background: Here’s where I hope my application can stand out and impress. The first three years of my high school career were spent doing grade 9 pass or fail courses with my mother. I did maybe 20-30 minutes of work every day and didn’t really accomplish anything other than finishing four core classes during those three years. I was in a situation where I had to decide what I wanted to do: live off my (fairly wealthy) parents, who could provide me with a home and money to survive, or do another 3 years of school, hoping that things would magically change and I could graduate. I didn’t have any expectations at the time, in fact, pretty much expected me to drop out. I wanted to give it another chance, despite my complete failure in the past, the embarrassment of doing high school for six years and falling behind all my friends and family, and the potential for me to simply waste another year or two of my life. I started up at an online school for grade 10 (not homeschool, like the one before) and did everything by myself. I started to really succeed; not only was I getting straight As, but I was proud of myself and really enjoyed my classes. The next year I started Grade 11, and realized that I could really kick it up a notch with my courses, so I started taking the hardest courses I could (excluding ones in science). I continued my great pace and got straight As in my junior year (this, current year).
Tl;dr I had no expectations after only completing four grade 9 courses in 3 years. I could have chosen to live off of my wealthy family, but I wanted to make myself proud, so I started schooling by myself at an online school (grade 10, 3 years after starting high school). I was then faced with more decisions: do I want to sit here doing school for an hour or two a day by just doing the core requirements, or should I push myself to the limit and try to get into the top schools. I pushed and pushed and now I’m going to be taking 6 or 7 APs in my senior year (you have a lot more time in online school).
**Extracurriculars:**Extremely unorthodox-- I live in a small shared Canadian cottage in a remote location within a province that doesn’t have much going on. The keys to my ECs are community and character. My small cottage is shared by four families, so-- although they aren’t up simultaneous very often-- I really learned a strong sense of community. They’re such great people and raised me to always be looking out for people that could use a helping hand-- even if they aren’t necessarily in need. Recently, my brother, cousin, and I put in four docks and boat-lifts in near 50-degree water. Every year we put in and take out these docks, not because we are asked or because we get rewarded, but because it’s the right thing to do. Ever since I was 5, I was out there helping with those docks (although, I wasn’t helping much lol). Apart from that, there are simple things like cleaning up the yard, doing the dishes, teaching people to surf, tarping the boats and other stuff like that.
It’s might be worth noting that one of my family members is deaf, one is on the spectrum, and another (baby) has some issues as well. I think this can speak to my community and how I was conditioned into the person I am today.
Tl;dr- I’m obviously not winning any awards or doing huge charity work, but I think I can really speak to how my incredible environment has shaped my character. I was extremely involved in my tight extended family community throughout my life. My ‘volunteer’ work is done truly because it’s a standard in my family-- we don’t even think about it, we just do it.
**Recommendations:**I am really inquisitive, so I share a lot of deep discussions with some of my teachers; I think they can speak to that and my kindness, but I’m not too sure how that compares(?). Unfortunately, some of these teachers left my school (which happens often, because it’s just an online school that normally people don’t hold full-time positions with). My counselor should be able to give me a good recommendation, as I am getting closer and closer with her as time goes on.
Courses
Grade 9 (3 years to complete; homeschooled)
P/F Social Studies, English, Math, Science, and Health
Grade 10 (started at the new, online school; near 4.0 GPA)-
World History, World Literature, Geometry, Biology, Spanish (dropped because I thought ‘I don’t need Spanish, this was a mistake’), 4 electives
Grade 11 (same online school, realized I had potential; straight As in everything)-
AP Psych, AP English Lang and Comp, Honors Alg2, Chemistry, AP CSP, French (dropped because ASL was released and I wanted to learn that because I have a deaf aunt whom I am close to. Didn’t make sense to take French 1 and then ASL 1 and 2).
Summer School (same online school; this coming summer)-
ASL 1, Honors PreCalc
Grade 12 (same online school; open to suggestions)-
AP Economics (both), AP English Lit and Comp, AP Calc AB (maybe BC?), Honors Physics, Arts, ASL 2, AP Computer Science A
Schools:
-Stanford- Product Design
-Brown (early decision because I love everything about Brown and it’d be 100% worth it for the money)- Behavioral Decision Sciences
-Northwestern- Manufacturing and Design Engineering
-Babson- Tech, Entrepreneurship, and Design
-Northeasternx2- I love so many of their programs, can’t decide yet but I’ll apply to at least two.
-USC Marshall- Business Admin (love their electives and freedom)
-U Washingtonx2- Business Admin and/or Industrial Design
-Penn State University Park- Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
-Chapman- Behavioral and Computational Economics
-ASU- Industrial Design
-Western Washington U- Industrial Design
-UC Boulder- Not sure yet.
Brown ED because it’s far and above my favorite. Not sure I want to commit to a school like Northeastern or USC, because at that point it might just be better for me to go to school in Canada for much cheaper.
*I have five Canadian schools also, including really high chance safeties. Didn’t include because not relevant.
I love entrepreneurship, psychology, technology, and business.
So, any comments, advice, tips, questions, or anything like that? Maybe someone knows of schools that would be more (or less?) inclined to admit me, given my situation?
Thank you!