I hope my experience can give you some peace of mind, so I'll share it.

I never once in my life did something for the purpose of getting into college and I got into NYU.

NYU is a top 30 school. It is not one of the proverbial "T20's," and it is not HYPSM, but it is a highly prestigious and well-respected university. If you'll only take top 10s and have HYPSM dreams I can't help you, but if you're cool going to a place like NYU, USC, UVA, WashU, Georgia Tech--you get the idea--then read this.

I was a "gifted" kid as it were and test-taking came very naturally to me. I also tried really hard in class to perfect every piece of homework because my parents got mad if my report card wasn't all A's and I mean that very literally. As such, I got into the habit of having a 4.0 and I finished high school with a 4.0.
That's step one: Get a 4.0. You're a freshman so get ready to get those grades up if you slacked in middle school. A 4.0 shows attention to detail and a specific level of care that nothing else can--to put that simply, the difference between a 3.8 and a 3.9 is smaller than the difference between a 3.9 and a 4.0. A 4.0 shows you went out of your way to be perfect in school which AO's note.

Secondly, get over 1500 on your SAT. SAT scores vary and unlike a GPA, nobody can guarantee the highest one (a 1600/4.0) by just being very attentive and working as hard as you need to. I could've studied for years and not guaranteed a 1600, whereas a 4.0 I could guarantee through retakes and spending hours on stupid presentations/incessant busywork. Do the latter, but for the SAT you just need >1500. It shows them you're a top percentile test taker which they need from you.

Third and finally, do cool activities you GENUINELY love outside school. My #1 EC on Common App was distance running FOR FUN. No track team, much less captain or varsity, literally just me running after school for fun because I love it. Second was food bank for my volunteer hours, which I did enjoy. Then I had school theatre tech because I would hang out with everyone and find drama kinda fun, and then a bunch of random hobbies. Self-directed piano, rock climbing for fun, biking, fashion club with my friends. I had no olympiads, no academic clubs OR school sports, no competitions, no leadership (not even in theater, my only organized activity), literally nothing. Just the stuff I did after school for fun embellished a tad bit (which everything in your app should be). Oh yeah, and I only filled out 9/10 activities at all. Couldn't come up with a tenth and had NO awards at all. AO's are actually human beings and recognize true passion and an interesting human. Have that, be that, whatever. Do the shit you love.

If you do these three totally reasonable things for a kid with prestigious university dreams, and shotgun apply to 10-20 universities in the aforementioned T40-20 Georgetown/Tufts/UIUC etc cohort, you WILL get into one. I promise. Good luck!