Hi. I’m currently a rising high school junior and am extremely interested in going into EECS and related STEM fields and plan to graduate with about a 3.95 uw, 4.6-4.7 w, and am taking one of the most rigorous courseloads at my school as well as online colleges courses. I’ve been practicing for the SAT and have been scoring at least 1500 (780 math, 730 verbal). I’m also involved in extracurriculars related to things I’m planning on pursuing and am starting this year as the president of the robotics club. I am also starting the entrepreneurship club and another science club. I have found myself two internships simply by asking people around the area for opportunities to work on projects and learn. Also, I pursue personal CS and engineering projects just to gain experience. Avid maker here. I also soon want to contact professors to do research. I know I might seem very solid at a first glance; however, there is one thing that I find extremely detrimental to my portfolio: a lack of awards or exceptional accomplishments. I’ve competed in some local STEM competitions, but have not won anything yet and can’t foresee it. I plan on entering national competitions this year, but the chances of even making it to finalist are extremely low. I feel like this puts me at a disadvantage. Sure I’ve been proactive and all, but anyone can seek out these opportunities. It’s not like I won a major competition and someone handed me an internship for that purpose. However, at this point, I’m not so sure what to do.
I’ve been researching schools and have looked into the programs thoroughly and have made my list of top choices, which include MIT, Caltech, Berkeley, Cornell, UPenn, CMU, Georgia Tech, and UMich. I am also interested in Stanford, but like everybody, that is my reach. I have almost no interest in HYP and would rather get rejected from those three than anything aforementioned. However, all of these schools seem like reaches due to my lack of awards. I would really like to go to MIT, not because it’s a name, but because I’m genuinely interested in the program. I love to code and make things and as of now, research. An intense STEM school seems like a place where I would fit perfectly. If I cannot go to one of those top STEM schools, Berkeley would also be a great option. I keep hearing everyone say how easy it is to get into Berkeley, but I’m still in disbelief. Only 18% of applicants get accepted, and for engineering, 10%. 82-90% is anything but a small minority. 14,000 students seems like a large number to admit, but it’s probably 14,000 students all with awards and prestigious exclusive opportunities. There’s plenty of local awards that those 14k could have one in order for them to be eligible to get accepted to Berkeley. It’s just very overwhelming and hopeless at this point. I’m no one unique and am starting to see CSU as a real possibility. 
Any advice is immensely appreciated. 