Gap year Student needs help
Background & Context:
I am an Indian student from a small village (low-income background: ~$720 USD/year) currently taking a gap year. I only discovered US admissions in 12th grade. Coming from a local school where university education is rare, I’ve had to navigate this entire process alone.
Academics:
9th: 92% (Rank: 1/85)
10th: 89% (Rank: 5/85)
11th: 91% (Rank: 1/186)
12th: 87% (Rank: 1/186 in school & #1 in my village area)
SAT: 1520 (Taken on a scholarship)
Honors: Awarded by MLA for academic excellence; "Student of the Year" (out of 1,000+ students) in school.
Extracurriculars:
Entrepreneurship: Started a local cloud kitchen (3 months; learned operations and failure).
Content Creation: Philosophy/Physics YouTube channel (10k+ subscribers).
Business: Scaling my sister’s jewelry business (hit 100+ sales/month recently).
Internship: EdTech company, creating coaching materials.
Athletics: District Gold Medalist in Karate.
I will be applying for business/ Engineering major mainly for Universities
Why the Gap Year?
I took a drop year due to a family crisis. In December of my senior year, my aunt passed away. My father was fired from his job for taking leave for the 13-day ritual that is necessary in India when someone dies as he took more leave he got fired as he is the only person that earns so it's felt burden to me to apply for University that cost more than my half Annual income so due to the financial hit and the loss, I couldn't manage 10+ applications while relying on scholarships fees.
My Questions:
How do top-tier US unis view gap years taken for family/financial reasons?
Does my "distance traveled" (rural/low income) help contextualize my 12th-grade score?
Should I retake a 1520 for a 1550+, or focus entirely on my business and essays?
I am on right path to take the drop ?