Here's one of the surest ways to impress any college, including the most selective ones:
Find what you love to learn, and learn more of it.
Several years ago, one of our students wrote his college essay about his obsession with decoding the meaning of the last sentence of 100 Years of Solitude. After he read the last line, he was sure it had to be the most important sentence in the book. But he wasn't sure he understood it. So he read the book again. He read online study guides. He went to a local book club meeting where he was the youngest member by about 40 years. And in a final act of desperation, he tracked down the author's email address and sent him a plea for help and to explain it to him (the author, disappointingly, never replied).
The student was accepted to Stanford… as an electrical engineering major.
It doesn't matter whether it's math, literature, science, cooking, automotive repair, computer programming, woodworking, dance–if you find it interesting, feed your curiosity. Show colleges that you're not just a high achiever but also a curious learner. And even if you're not a straight-A student, show colleges what you're capable of when you're learning what you want to learn.