A few points:
- Nobody's implying that only the rich can afford MIT. We're implying that unless you're rich, finances should absolutely be a part of your decision. No college is worth $240,000 if you have the option of going to another academically strong school with a much more reasonable price tag.
- Being Hispanic will help your odds of admission some at many colleges, so it's worth noting that you should have some good options a year from now.
- With that said, MIT doesn't practice affirmative action. No boost there.
- You'll need to take SAT subject tests to apply to MIT. They require one math test (Math II if you want to get in, because that's what 95% of applicants will take) and one science (Biology E/Biology M/Physics/Chemistry).
- Coding is an extracurricular that'll help - to the extent that many students looking at MIT for computer science will have extensive coding experience - but unless you have some major recognition (state/national level awards) it's not liable to move the needle.
- Being a "member" doesn't have much of an impact - colleges know that can mean showing up to one meeting a day, or one meeting a term. Leadership positions (President/secretary/treasurer/etc. of NHS or FBLA) or major accomplishments (awards in FBLA, raising $50,000 for NHS, winning a state/national level award for a coding project) are what it takes for a generic extracurricular to boost your application.
Nobody’s telling you to “just give up,” and not going to MIT does not equate to “just live a regular life on some mid-tier college hoping that nobody scoffs when I tell them what I want to study.” That’s an absurd straw man as arguments go. An application is worthwhile so long as you’re academically qualified. But there are several hundred schools between “MIT” and “mid-tier college,” so now is not the time to develop an irrational obsession with a single college. Just as nobody is doomed to a life of hopeless mediocrity simply because they don’t get a job at Google, nobody is doomed to a “regular life” because they don’t get into MIT.
Computer science majors from any decent college (a definition that includes hundreds of schools at the very least) are some of the most employable grads out there, so nobody’s going to scoff at you when you tell them you want to study CS.
And, finally, these summer programs aren’t all that meaningful. They’re not college courses, and they don’t give you any serious indication of what the learning environment is like at the host campus. Colleges like to see long-term involvement in an activity, so I’d suggest you stick with your 4-year program.