It probably says something about UChicago that my first thought after seeing the title was that this is probably a current student with an axe to grind writing a long rant
Figure out what you like and do it. A lot of people here kinda stumbled into here doing what they liked and writing about it on their application. Yeah, you will probably need a high(er) standardized test score to have a “realistic” (marginally) chance of admission, but it’s more important to figure out what interests you. And even if it doesn’t help you get in here, college admissions is less important than coming to terms with who you are and what you want you want to do and be.