<p>Your ACT score can make a big difference. Your SAT is too low for Stanford, MIT, Princeton. …not sure about Berkeley. You should get into Cal Poly though. Dont forget, those top schools turn away thousands of people each year with perfect gpas and near perfect test scores; there just isn’t enough space for all these high achieving students. First generation and state of residence may help along with the hardships you have endured. Can you add a few more schools to your list that have at least double-digit acceptance rates? </p>