@SuperSenior19. It’s only a myth. Yes, the ivys have kids that invented apps and what not but so does Michigan where my son goes etc. At my daughter’s small lac there were kids that did amazing things… But here’s the deal. You are not competing with anyone. Just be the best you can be. So many of those kids would wish for the ability to get perfect scores. You are actually in an elite group even if you don’t realize it. I personally like it that you don’t realize it… Lol.
Even your local college is going to have those kids also. Believe it or not… Lots of times those kids have your same feelings. They just want to meet other kids to hang with and have fun. They just can’t help it if their like really good at something.
If you have the funds to visit then go do it don’t let reputation sway your decision. Maybe actually like talk to the students. We actually just stopped a few students while walking around with my son at a few college. I will tell you that most students were very gracious to answer a few typical questions like why did you pick this school.
My daughters things was the Facebook groups for the colleges. Plus she visited. She was able to get a sense of the people wanting to go there and ones that were there.
My son started a tech group at Michigan and they met with kids from most of the ivys, Berkeley, and beyond. They are working on a project together. He said they are all just students. They all seem to be the same peer group. He said they were all pretty nice kids.
So I’m going to argue both sides of the coin! On the one hand, your grades & scores say that you will be able to handle the work at pretty much any school. Seriously.
At the same time, you won’t necessarily be selling yourself short by choosing a college that wants you enough to make it worth your while.
Schools like USC are using ‘Honors’ colleges as ways to attract top-level students who want a strong academic environment at an affordable price. Putting the students together in one area of housing (which might seem like a snob thing) is a way of helping them find each other when they are new (at SC, there are ~600 honors kids out of a class of 8000). The other benefits (early registration for classes, access to special seminars, etc) are designed to make sure that you can build the academic experience you are looking for. Other perks can include extra support in finding internships, etc. These are all designed specifically to mimic the features your parents don’t want you to “miss out” on- that you would expect to find at a more academically selective university.
Finally, given that you aren’t sure what you want to major in, take a look at some of the colleges that are particularly helpful in that regard. For example, CMU has BXA inter-college degrees, that let you mix humanities & sciences. Cornell has special advisors for students who are accepted as “undeclared” (read about it here: https://admissions.cals.cornell.edu/apply/first-year/undeclared-option-0/)- I have seen that work our really well for several students.
All-women schools I recommend: Smith, Agnes Scott, Wellesley, Scripps.
@Knowsstuff That’s true. I’m not against visiting those colleges at all but I think it would make more sense to wait until spring and only visit the ones that accept me. I’ve always thought about asking the students questions on tours but I never know how to approach them / what to ask – I’ll try it next time, though, thanks!
On a related note, does anyone have any recommendations for private schools that might fit the criteria I described? I think that I should be good on public schools so I’m just trying to balance out my list a little bit. TIA 
@HowardGradly Personally, I’m not super into Rice – it’s a little too small for me and I’ve heard that their student culture is generally very competitive (maybe because engineering is big there?). Also not so sure about going to school in Texas. I have gotten lots of emails/mail from them in the past, though, so maybe it’s time to reconsider