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<p>You’re looking at the situation the wrong way, Denis. It’s quite common for a student to be turned down by Amherst, maybe even by Reed, and still be accepted by Princeton or Yale. Once your academic stats reach a certain threshold (say SAT 2200+), non-academic elements play a large role and these are pretty much independent variables: your essays and your experiences may excite the adcoms at one school and bore the adcoms at another: the more top schools you apply to, the better your chances.</p>
<p>Ultimately, your story will get you in, perhaps to places you never expected. Recent immigrant, first to college, working to pay the bills, top of his class, starts a service to help those who arrive after him. This is the quintessential American Dream in action! All you need to do is package it pretty and wrap it up with a nice bow: humble, thankful, and determined to succeed in the “land of opportunity”!</p>