Early Recruiting + Finding the Right Strategy for you

Curious what people in industry think on this topic. SA recruiting gets earlier and earlier each year, which leaves college kids with little time to decide. I know I would like to work at an HF at some point (macro, l/s equity) but haven't been able to decide which strategy is best for me. I want to wait for the summer to try my freshman internship, but oddly I feel that would leave me behind compared to people who already know what they are gunning for at my target.

In the age of accelerated recruiting, what is the best way to find which strategy suits you and then what to recruit for on sellside (IB, S&T, or the rare buyside out of ugrad)? 

I feel like every freshman who secures a good SA sophomore winter just skips this soul-searching because its really just a game of who is the most prepared at this point. There is just 0 freedom on our end to figure out what we like.