@ShuboxTheWar, I am going to break ranks with most cc parents and actually commmend you for reaching out on the cc if you don’t have the necessary resources available to you irl, like a good guidance counselor at school or a private counselor. Truth is, thousands of more privileged (or plain lucky) kids have those resources at their disposal and thus get better advice earlier on. CC has tremendous resources, but yes, also some major negative side effects that in extreme may negate all the positive help. If there is a chance you could have a parent join cc to filter things out for you, that may be the best outcome. For full disclosure, I discouraged my daughter from joining, but have been an avid reader for the last few years. Were my hundreds of hours spent on cc worth thousands of dollars that could be spent on a quality college consultant who our have helped choose the right high school classes, identified summer programs, scholarship opportunities, etc., etc? From the financial standpoint of bang for the buck, no. But no consultant knows my daughter as well as I do and nobody else takes her interests, her overall interest to heart as I do. A consultant might have pushed her into AP Calc BC since she was doing well in math, but as a mom I suggested she took AB instead to lighten her load and keep her sanity. I also recommended AP Seminar that I learned about on cc and it ended up being a great fit for my daughter.
I am sorry, getting totally off topic. Bottom line - planning is good, especially planning that won’t get you stuck into a hole but rather helps you explore more possibilities. For example, I see your freshman schedule contains no history/social science. Many elite schools want to see four years of all core subjects, that is English, math, science and social science, plus 4th level of foreign language (I think you can reach that in junior year with AP Spanish if you take Spanish 3 next year. So what do you plan to take next year - World History, European History, or American History? Regular or AP? The advantage of taking even a regular history class in 9th grade is that it would give you a better idea of work involved and the amount of time you spend in class. For my daughter, AP Euro and APUSH came easily while some her classmates complained of time commitment, but then those same classmates thought calculus was easy (and D disagreed).
Why are you interested in STEM? Which particular area of STEM? There are very different paths for those interested in live sciences and say computer science. When people say it’s too early to think about colleges, they mean that without your interests, it’s impossible to find a good fit. For example, it’s hard for me to imagine an average well-rounded student interested equally in math, history, and basketball, who is also happy at CalTech, surrounded mostly by those who live and breathe science an math, with little time for other pursuits. That kid might be happy at Princeton, but just as happy at a state flagship if it has the right program/departmental resources/vibe for him or her.
So your goal should be to explore your interests, which could also be done systematically and with planning if you’d like. Touring the country in the summer sounds like a great experience, don’t give it up just because you most likely won’t become a rock star as a career. If you want to drop band to explore other interests, don’t worry that it will “look bad” to admission officers, just focus on your limited resources, I.e. time, and most effective way to spend it. Don’t join a robotics club if it is boring or non-functional in your school. Join a club other kids say is fun, or where you can enjoy spending time with your friends, even if it’s outside of your sphere of interests right now. Take a Dual Enrollment class at a local community college, or even watch YouTube videos on some new area of interest - in other words, scout to find your path. Once you sure you are on the right track, you can start creating your narrative, coming up with projects that relate and build around your newly found focus. And as everyone said, keep up your grades while doing the rest, which means careful planning to avoid being overworked and stressed out. Best of luck!