Idk what the FUCK I’m doing

I’m 18, turning 19 this summer, I’m doing online classes at a non target and working full time at a series D fintech startup. I’m doing data engineering(mostly simple data analytics with some data science mentoring and ML/AI stuff) I’m getting taught python, SQL, and Ruby on Rails by some pretty cool developers and engineers. I fucking love the job and I’m probably going to stay at least for the rest of the year as an intern, comp is pretty good for the hours I’m working, basically $100 a day whether I show up or not, can take days off if I want. Whole firm is super cool, I sit behind prop traders and I’m basically their coffee boy and they teach me all kinds of stuff like what fix protocols do and what the algos are doing.

My school is not the greatest but my grades are good, have a 3.8 cumulative and a 3.94 last semester, thinking of doing 1 or two more semesters while working this internship and then trying for Cornell/NYU/Colgate(I’m in nyc and don’t want to go far)

My dad is a c level at the firm I’m working at (haha nepotism ik) and he wants me to do comp sci at NYU and be done with it, but ever since I was a kid I dreamt of hedge funds. I’m well connected on the sell side through my dad at most trading firms and market makers, but my mom is a director in a prestigious private equity firm. It fucking sucks I see what the hours and stress do to her first hand, but reading this forum it seems buy side experience+target is the only way into hedge funds. I can definitely get a summer internship at her firm, but is it worth it? Keep in mind I have 0 connections in hedge fund, only private equity and sell side Market Makers etc. So I have to get in on my own merit I can’t just waltz in.

My real questions are, what colleges should I go for, is NYU Econ/comp sci(NOT STERN) enough, and how easy would it be to convert at 2ish year stint as a slave in PE to a full time offer at a hedge fund. Lastly, is it even worth it? I’ve got it made at my current company and it’s no secret I’ve got a full time offer as a data engineer/developer waiting for me as soon as I graduate college.

I want to have a nice career, get to a stable position and then start swinging for the fences with crackpot startup ideas once I’m around 30 years old and have my own connections and funding sources. Is PE/HF even worth it or should I stick to the fintech route and try to meet the VC guys investing in us?

Sorry if I sound like an idiot, I’m really young and really have no clue what the hell I am doing, I’m new to all this.