One thing you should consider looking for in schools is creative writing programs.
Another thing you can look for is math clubs and math competition teams.
Or perhaps you are interested in improving your presentation skills for your videos.
Thinking about these interests will not only help you in finding the best schools for you to apply to - it may also help you with your essays and interview. It will show that you’ve actually looked at the culture of the school and how you think that you will fit into it, because there are activities there you would be enthusiastic about.
Schools are looking for all sorts of people, with all sorts of abilities unrelated to getting good grades or scoring well on standardized tests. You can have 99th percentile test scores and still not get in; you can be less that perfect and get in because admissions sees some sort of “spark” in you.
And yes, it is a cultural difference, so you have to be aware of it when applying if you want to be successful.