I think one of the things that a lot of us are reacting to is the absence of any sense as to what in particular you like about a specific school (besides the label) or whatin particular you want academically from your college.
For example: ime (except for students who are simply going for “Ivy”) there isn’t much overlap between students who are equally drawn to Cornell and Princeton (eg, a student who is a good fit for Princeton is likely to be happier at Duke than at Cornell).
Similarly, while both Cornell and Princeton offer a great undergrad education, their best areas don’t overlap all that much. In building your list of places to apply you want to consider that as well.
Use the time you aren’t self-studying for APs, and spend some quality time with a Fiske guide!
Or- if you like doing standardized testing and you have one or two subjects that you lovea above all others, as money is not an issue, look at international universities. They don’t care about your classroom grades or ECs- just your standardized tests (figure you will need 3-5 AP scores of 5 in subjects related to what you want to study).