I very much agree with this.
A professor that I know has said that he thinks that his very smartest students have all struggled with mental health at some point. I sort of suspect him of exaggerating, but only by a little bit. This is common in general and among very smart people.
However, if you have struggled with depression, your top priority should be to make sure that you have this under control. Medical science has gotten a lot better at helping with this and really can help a lot in most cases.
You need to think hard about whether you are ready to go to a university that is way more stressful than high school. In my case for undergrad (at MIT) I was ready part of the time and was definitely not ready part of the time. I probably would have been better off at my safety school. After two years of working for a living then going to graduate school (at Stanford) I was ready and loved it. However, you need to figure out what is right for you at this current point in your life. Also, as a graduate student at Stanford most of the other graduate students had come from “top 100” universities, but few had come from “top 10” universities. My guess is that UIUC is probably higher ranked than the median of the other universities that students had come from.
For taking AP classes I am good with this. For classes in general I do not agree. You need to do well in a range of classes if you intend to attend a top ranked university. An unweighted 3.95 however suggests that you have done well in a wide range of classes.
I applaud the people who are running your high school. I think that this should be the rule everywhere. Universities will not penalize you for rules that your high school puts in place.