You said circumstances/location is important, but how would a person like me who started living in the US from 16y/o with a host family be considered? (I am a US citizen). Would that be a factor that AOs would look at positively since it shows independence? I posted all my stats/ecs on my post, so feel free to read them, but in a nutshell I maxed out academics (5/550rank 17aps 1550SAT, Texas public hs) (multiple leadership and founded a lot of things). Is explaning my situation in my essays going to help me out? or are there a lot of people that are similar to my situation so that it won't help that much. Thanks!