Don’t have a dream college, have a dream life. Realize now, in 9th grade, that there are many many colleges that can be a stop along your journey to a dream life. Figure out who you want to be and try to become that person. For any particular student, the chances for a particular college may be small, but the chances for getting into an appropriate college to study with your academic peer group is actually very high.
I told my kids to do their best in school and when the time comes, we’ll pick out appropriate colleges. Don’t do anything in particular outside of school, just for college, but find out what you like, sample things, get involved, get out of your comfort zone. If you try something and don’t like it find something else. If there is something that you’ve been doing but have become bored, take a break. This is theme that continues throughout your life and really has nothing to do with college. It’s a recipe for an active and healthy life.
Learn how to be happy. If you can’t learn to be happy in HS, when do you expect to learn it.