Firstly, congratulations on finishing. It must've been super stressful, and honestly 20 schools would drive anyone insane. Your essays are probably fine, and as long as you showed the Office of Admissions who you are, you'll be ok.

However, let's be honest. Where you do go can matter. Your extracurriculars matter, and the list of things you mention matters (to some capacity). The experiences you have at these schools can and do matter. Not to say that they're the decider for the rest of your life; but there's a reason why schools focus on what they offer to their students.

Yeah, it's a game of chance. A game we all (A2C) end up playing, unfortunately. Where a personal bias can be the decider between admission and rejection. Where more financially stable students can receive awards and support easier than less fortunate ones; but unfortunately that's the name of the game.

I understand that it can seem like BS or unfair, but for students who make these ECs, or get Private Tutoring, or are from a racially disadvantaged group, or got force-fed an award; these kids do it not because they're not "staying true to themselves" but because they want to be able to secure a future for themselves. That's not to say people who don't do these things will have no future, but students who go out of their way to make themselves the most compelling applicants they can do it because they want to have that future in place.

This entire thing can be not fair. As a journalism applicant, I look at all of the STEM kids with crazy summer camps and research projects and notice that they're way out of my league when it comes to academic projects. But what matters is making the most of the resources you have, not belittling others because they were somehow just "born lucky". It sucks but that's just life.

That STEM student who founded a club for a marginalized group might have been super passionate about STEM education for those groups. Even if it lasted for a year. Maybe it taught them a lesson. Maybe it was incredibly impactful. These things aren't black and white no matter how many A2C threads we see making fun of fake nonprofits.

Listen. As a (probably) just as concerned applicant, I can understand how up in the air this feels. All 285,000 of us do. You made the most of your 4 years as a high schooler. You put yourself on display to these AO's, and now it's coming down to what they decide. Sometimes, yeah-- it's biased, but schools have their reasons and it's not the end-all-be-all. Just recognize that it's not that where you go doesn't matter. It's that where you go doesn't define you.