Yes, the answers to the questions in #16 are important.
Realistically, he is a likely or certain admit at the vast majority of colleges in the US from an admission standpoint, excluding the small number of super selective colleges.
So he needs to screen by academic interests, and you need to screen by cost, if necessary.
It is not necessary to attend a reach college to get a good education.
What grade is your son in?
My son fit your description to a T until he met the right crowd in HS and got involved in various activities, eventually getting a couple of leadership positions, but I don’t think these were important. More important was that he did a lot of mentored research.
However, I also know kids who got into a top school but dropped out because they were addicted to video games and couldn’t keep up with the work. People are quick to point out that video games can lead to a great career - however, there are tons of kids who love to play, but not many of them eventually work in the game industry.
It depends. Theres a lot to cover in the app and supp. No one bullet swings anyone into a top college.
But rather than suggest awards to OP, I believe there are many good small ways to show more activation, to show one can commit to various things, participate, have some meaning.
For many, gaming is reactive, not proactive. And when so, it doesn’t mean a kid has a design future in it.
Not a junior, but old enough to be writing their own CC “chance me” threads in a year or two. No current likely major, although either STEM or social science is possible. Unlikely engineering. Unlikely, but not impossible pre-med, possible pre-law. We are not financial aid dependent - willing to go $55-60K/year. Not expecting/chasing merit, but that would obviously be nice if available.
Thanks for all the answers so far! Several have given me ideas.
OP - There is a lot of maturing that happens between even sophomore and junior year. My daughter had zero leadership experience at the end of sophomore year and if you had asked her, she would have said she wasn’t interested and laughed at the idea. Fast forward to the following year when a teacher recommended she apply to be a peer mentor (students work with GCs to help students transition to school, not tutoring, because they were looking for all personality types so new students could all find someone to relate to). She hemmed and hawed but applied and was selected. By the end of high school she not only was a peer mentor, but a team leader on her academic team, was a leader for a long mission trip, ran show rehearsals, and was an organizer/leader of a long retreat. Now in college, she’s working towards a collaborative leadership certification and just applied to be an honors mentor. If you has asked me when she was 15 if she’d do any of those thing, or have the interest, I would have asked what you were smoking.
I will also say that leadership positions are few and far between for underclassmen. Same with awards (something else I worried about - that she’d have nothing to put down other than some little things). The more substantial nominations and awards all came junior and senior year.
Don’t worry! You obviously have a bright kid.
Well, being from Wyoming is a bit of a hook, location-wise. Smallish colleges would love to check the 50-state box, and with high stats, he’d likely be a National Merit Finalist or something (easier from WY, too). One of my friend’s daughters wrote a very in-depth essay on how much she learned from gaming (not sure which one) about herself, team-building, psychology, etc., and ended up with a few full-ride opportunities, much credit going to her essay. If he can play some kind of Battle Bot competition, or Zero Robotics (MIT-run) and make the finals, those are great extracurriculars.
I agree with @belmom . Also want to add that reachy-reachies like MIT and Caltech can be (in the words of someone I know from Caltech) “punishingly” difficult to attend–not just get into. Again, it’s great if your child is really into what those schools offer, but if they aren’t then it can be miserable. Some families and kids thrive on that sort of “rigor” and others feel that they’d like to pursue other things besides all academics all the time at college. There’s room for everyone in the 2000+ colleges out there.
Just wanted to mention that U of Maine at Orono is offering automatic scholarships depending on stats – in-state matching programs for tuition. Also Alabama at Huntsville would be a free ride. U of Maine at orono has many arts and sciences – I think of it as the less expensive UVM. UVM is a popular choice currently and might also be one that you consider in that it has solid academics, a great “college town”, outdoor sports. Huntsville is more science/ tech oriented but also one that many people who want to save some cash are looking at for a solid education.
Dustyfeathers, about " “punishingly” difficult to attend". Yup but worth it if the fit is right. And probably just plain old torture if it isn’t-although I’ve not known any grads from the last decade who feel that way. I know many from earlier times who do tho.
But students I know at MIT (and I know a lot of them) pursue with gusto an amazing array of things besides academics. They can and they do. In fact, the range of what any one student there does (both academic and not the least bit so) is mind boggling. So, please don’t perpetuate the 1970’s stereotype vision of MIT students (I’ll let those who know CalTech speak for CalTech) but the stereotype of the MIT college student as a narrowly focused academic nerd couldn’t be further from the truth.
Any public is fine.
CC is a place prestige wins out most of the time, but look at most publics and many super talented 35act-1500+ sat kids attend…many many many.
My daughter one friend Yale other friend UTD same stats 1500+ SAT.
@Dustyfeathers Thank you.Your comments have been especially helpful. My own student grimaces at the thought of MIT. I think Harvey Mudd would be another in that “punishing to attend” category.
UA and ASU in Arizona may be kind of like UW (Wyoming) in getting students from the full range of previous academic achievement levels (within the college-ready range), meaning that they are not hard to get admitted to, but get some top-end students anyway. But they are bigger than UW, so the absolute number of high achievers is likely to be higher, if it is desirable to have a larger cohort of such. They also have honors programs and merit scholarships for high achievers.
Other wide-range state flagships may be found in states with few state universities, such as Hawaii, Iowa, etc…
At the opposite end, states with many state universities, each of which is relatively small compared to the state population, may have narrower ranges of previous academic achievement levels. California is the usual example. But it means that the schools with similar levels of previous academic achievement as the student are unlikely to be safeties or anything close, unless the overall level of previous academic achievement in the state is low.
Thanks OP. I’m glad they are helpful. I need to add that depending on what you’re studying, Yale (since it was mentioned upstream) seems to not be so uber competitive. It’s a strong curriculum, and I would strongly caution someone heading into premed there, as getting the top grades that requires is challenging, and I’ve heard several tales of premed-dreams dashed there, but the classes in most disciplines are manageable and even fun. It attracts quirky fun intellectual types. Brown seems to have the same feel, but I only know people who have attended and haven’t ever visited.
If you like that vibe, then maybe also consider Vassar (on the commuter train line to NYC) and Wesleyan U in CT–both have theater programs, non-competitive kids, top academics. Wesleyan also has great music program. Really interesting.
I would not call Mudd “punishing to attend”. My kid didn’t feel punished. 
But she worked really, really hard. Not everyone wants to work that hard in college. And that is fine.
University of Utah, mentioned above, would be nearly free (Presidential scholarship for 4.0UW/36 ACT covers full tuition and fees plus $5000 pa towards room and board) and is an excellent and geographically convenient choice for you. I agree that overseas options would be more stats driven, Oxford or Cambridge would potentially be another option, in addition to Canada, but only if you know exactly what you want to study.
But I wouldn’t get your hopes too high about UCB/UCLA. Our high school had some really talented kids (NMFs, 4.0UW, lots of APs) shut out last year (from CS/Eng) because they didn’t have enough ECs.
Regardless of where he attends college, you may wish to get better control of the video game issue soon. For every boy who goes into the gaming design profession, there are more than 10 others who fail out of school, job, etc due to video addiction. Learning self control and moderation is best done early.
Top schools in the UK don’t care at all about ECs, and they’re cheaper than in the US, if he’s willing to venture that far. With his scores, and assuming AP scores in line, he might even get into Oxford or Cambridge.
Thank you. My student spends a lot of time on school work. Spending all their time playing video games is more aspirational than reality. 
Ok, so he’s not locked into the gaming hobby? Some of this would be clearer if you’d state things directly, like grade level and present ECs.
For a top or tippy top and possible stem major, he needs math and/or sci ECs. Starts in the high school. Plus having the right rigor. Please don’t get focused on names of privates that posters throw out. Start with the basics.
I’m a fellow parent, doling out college advice the same as you. Everyone seemed to focus on my first question motivation, but pretty much ignored the second. For a variety of reasons, I didn’t want to over-focus the inquiry on my own student - they can come on here and do that themselves if they wish. Per the OP and also post #2, the student in question was you, the reader, and not specifically my own student.
FYI. In a day or two, I intend to post back here a summary of everything I’ve learned. Thanks again for the responses.
know that every student couldn’t be a leader in college because who would they lead?