Another thing. It’s okay to be on the literary magazine only because your friends are. It’s okay to be on Science Olympiad even though you aren’t ever going to be a scientist. It’s okay not to do Model UN because that the drinking crowd and you don’t like the kids and you don’t like their parents even more. Even though International Relations is a major you are considering.
I never thought of my kid as in competition with other kids. My older son lost out to a very good friend of his. Well she was a female applying to tech schools, but also rank slightly higher and at least in some respects had an edge in ECs as well. I wanted them both to get in.