I always thought it was really stupid and soul-numbing to do have the "right" activities to impress someone too, so I mostly ignored all the advice and did what I wanted during high school. Then I applied to one of the elite colleges mentioned in the article (mostly because my parents threatened to kick me out of the house if I didn't at least apply to college, and if you're gonna go through the trouble, might as well go for the top) and got in anyway.

Same thing with Google: I always figured that I wouldn't want to work at any place that cared where I went to college. But then I applied anyway, as an experiment, got in, and it turned out I loved it.

If I had to give some unsolicited advice (yeah, modulo luck and all that), I'd say to live your life the way that makes you happy, but if it happens to make some elite institution happy too, why not give it a try? There are some very real benefits to a college like Amherst or an employer like Google. While they're not worth making yourself miserable over, they can be a pretty nice perk if your interests lay in that direction anyway.

Also, I've found that what high-caliber institutions really want are people whose passions make them come alive. For exactly the reasons the article mentioned. There are lots of sheep that want to get into Google for the six-figure salaries and 3 meals a day and resume boost. There are comparatively fewer who want to get in because it's like being a kid in a data-mining candy shop. Organizations want the latter kind, who're usually the ones with the clearest ideas of what they want to get out of life.

And if they don't, fuck 'em.