On the other hand, in 6th grade, neither my daughter nor I had even heard about the college she ended up attending.
They are wrong - sixth grade is too early to think about college. So is 7th grade, 8th grade, and even 9th grade, except in a very general sense.
You are going through middle school, and you should be focussed on middle school. You can also start thinking about high school next year, especially when discussing the classes that you take (those which you can choose).
The Sumbuddy who will attend college will be a very different Sumbuddy than you are today. In fact, the Sumbuddy who will start high school in two years will also be a very different person than you are today.
Since you don’t really know the Sumbuddy who will be attending college in six years, it’s really not worth your time and energy to make college plans for them.