First off, you sound as if you are doing extremely well. Nothing wrong with thinking about these things early on, but please don’t worry too much at this point about shaping an application for college. It’s fine for you to just continue to do well in school, and try things out to see where your interests lie. In terms of first gen to college, it’s not a question of in which country your parents went to college. First gen to college means that your parents did not go to college anywhere, and hence you would not have received the advantage of your parents’ higher education. Otherwise, the child of two European professors, or two immigrant physicians, could claim first gen to college! By the time that you apply to college, the dust should have settled from the anticipated Supreme Court decision regarding race in college admissions, but if you keep going along this pathway of high achievement, you will be fine when it comes to college applications, no matter what.
You’re definitely on the right track, working very hard in school to get the top grades. Do the ECs that you want to do, because you enjoy them, not because you think they’ll look good for college. You should try speech and debate, or mock trial, because I think that they will give you good public speaking skills, and improve your ability to speak up for yourself and others - always a valuable life skill to have. You should continue with your interest in Math and Science competitions and programs, as long as you are doing well in them and enjoy them. I agree with continuing the Latin to the highest level available, and also agree with adding another language - French will be relatively easy for you, what with already being fluent in Spanish, and being such a good Latin student. If you really wanted a WOW factor, you’d start Chinese instead, and go spend a year in Taiwan (more about that in a minute). You sound as if you are shaping up to be a sure admit to your flagship in-state U (SUNYs), which would be your most affordable option if your parents earn enough that you wouldn’t qualify for financial aid.
As for getting into the most selective colleges (which are often also the most generous with financial aid, if your family income is low enough that you would qualify for it), the reality is that in addition to very high academic achievement, you also need to have something special that the college is looking for. Until now, that has been being a member of certain underrepresented racial minority groups, (and male more so than female of that minority), or an athlete who is so good that they are being recruited for the college team, or a particular extraordinary talent that the college wants to have there, be it music, art, dance, social advocacy - something where the achievement stands out on the national level, or to a much lesser extent, having a parent who went to that school for college, and especially if the parent is a big donor, the bigger the better. The expected Supreme Court ruling may put an end to racial preferences, but if it does, colleges are sure to try to put in place proxies for it, in order to maintain the current racial balance of the student body. This may or may not work in your favor; for example, they may try to give a boost to students coming from low socioeconomic areas that are heavily populated by the desired racial minority - and that may then be challenged also, and struck down, also - but if you don’t come from such an area, it won’t help your application.
You cannot control any of that. Your parents didn’t go to a highly selective US college. If you were on your way to becoming a recruited athlete, you’d likely already be highly proficient in that sport. So that leaves extraordinary, outstanding achievement in an area that the highly selective college might want. We’re talking top achievement in a national math or science competition, or getting into and attending Juilliard precollege for music (doesn’t sound as if you’re playing at that level), or artwork that is being recognized at the national level, something like that. Another way in which one can set oneself above and apart from the usual applicant pool is to do a year of high school in an unusual and exotic 3rd world setting, living with a family there, attending local school there, learning the language there, thus showing unusual maturity and self-sufficiency, Another path is having founded a social advocacy or charitable organization that has a national impact - think of the Parkland, FL school shooting survivors who founded anti-school shooting organizations that had a national impact. This definitely boosted their applications to Ivy league schools.
You don’t have to do any of these things, if you’d be happy going to Stonybrook, or Binghamton. Continue on your current path, and you’ll surely get in there, the price is probably right for you, and you’ll get a great education there. But if you want to go to a highly selective school, you are right to start thinking about how you can improve your chances of getting into one. Just for kicks, you might want to take a look at this website for summer language programs: STARTALK. Unfortunately, there are none in your area, but maybe you have a close family relative near where one of these is offered. But if you really do love studying languages, you could take an intensive first year summer program at your local 4 yr state college this summer, continue it through 9th at either your high school (if it’s offered) or at night at the local college, if it’s offered, and then go do 10th grade in the target country. The younger you are, the easier it is to learn a new language. That would really set you apart from the pack, and not interfere with the college application process, since you’d be back here for 11th grade, the most important one for your high school record. In addition, certain languages (Russian, Chinese, Korean, Persian, etc.) can be very valuable for future employment, whether or not you wind up in medicine.
I realize that this is all new information for you. But achievements like these, that are either at an extraordinary level, or are very much outside the norm, are what you need nowadays to get into the most selective colleges, especially if the Supreme Court bans consideration of race/ethnic group in college admissions, and if you are unlikely to qualify under the various proxies that the schools will then try to institute (giving preference to very low socioeconomic areas largely populated by the targeted racial/ethnic minorities). I am sure that I’m going to get flamed for having said more than, “There, there, dear, don’t you worry your pretty little 8th grade head about college applications, you just keep doing what you’re doing and it will all work out.” And honestly, it is totally FINE if you continue with the excellent path of achievement that you’ve already set your feet on, that would certainly lead to a career in medicine, if that’s what you want. But the truth is, if you want to get into a tippy-top Ivy school, especially if the Supreme Court bans consideration of race/ethnic group in admissions, you’re going to probably need something to distinguish yourself, to make the admissions committee rep who is combing through a thousand high-GPA, high test score, leader of a few clubs, maybe winner of a state-wide competition, applications, wake up and say, “Wow! I haven’t seen one like THIS in quite a bit. I have to bring THIS one to the entire committee, and get THIS one to come here.”
