Can I get into any top US unis with my grades?

A levels:
A* maths
A* chemistry
A* geography
A Biology
A* EPQ
All achieved. I am taking a level economics as well in my gap year.
GCSEs:
9777666665
I had extenuating circumstances during both my GCSEs and my a levels
I would Apply to Princeton early decision and probably also MIT and all of the other ivies if I don’t get in.
Are there any ivies (or top us unis) which don’t look at GCSEs?
I have done a lot of volunteering (foodbank and coaching), DofE bronze + silver, and I am also a carer for mum at the minute as she has terminal cancer. I have also competed in OCR and completed a half marathon when I was 15 and played football to quite a high level. Also, helped out at the stem club.
I would like to study engineering and economics in the us (I’m aware that I am able to do this in the US, while in the UK it’s a lot more focused which is one of the reasons I want to study in the US).
I have done some practice SATs and get around 1400.
Let’s say I can get a high score in the ACT and SAT (1550+) will I have a highish chance at getting into Princeton ED /or other ivies?
I’m a white Uk Citizen + from a low income family.
One of the reasons I also want to study in the USA is because unis like Princeton I believe are need blind I would get to study there for a lot less compared to the Uk.
P.S. I’m anonymous because of details relating to my mother.

Your GCSE grades are fine. Ivy leagues do look at GCSEs but they aren't valued highly. If anything, your A level grades make them pretty insignificant as 4 A*s and an A would be regarded very highly by US universities. Admission processes are holistic in the US so even if you were to have average grades, your extra curriculars could very easily make up for them. It's hard to tell whether you'll get into an Ivy League school, as each of them look for different things in students. You should take a look at some guides as to what different schools look for to help you tailor your applications to that.
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/uk/blog/how-to-get-into-dartmouth/
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/uk/blog/how-to-get-into-harvard/
https://www.crimsoneducation.org/uk/blog/how-to-get-into-princeton/
Getting a high ACT or SAT score won't necessarily guarantee you anything. Don't get too fixated on that, as most schools now are test optional anyway. Unless you score very highly e.g. 1500+, I wouldn't bother submitting your test score to Ivy League schools, since it might just hurt your chances rather than boosting them. The best advice I can give you is if studying in the US is your dream, make sure you have target, safety and reach schools on your list. MIT and Princeton are great options, but they are all Tier 1 schools. You should look to include some Tier 2 schools as your reach schools (e.g. NYU) and Tier 3 schools as your safety schools. If you don't want to study there desperately, I would only look at Tier 1 and 2 schools, but still apply to UK universities, since you'll receive unconditional offers anyway. Even if the US is your dream, keep your options open.
Best of luck to you in your application journey!

Thank you very much for your reply.
The thing is, since I’m from a low income family, I can really only apply to tier 1 schools as the only colleges that are need blind to internationals are tier 1 schools.
Also, the USA isn’t really a dream per se. It’s just more that the USAs higher education system structure is more preferable to me (also, a lot cheaper). I’m happy to go to Cambridge/imperial if I don’t get into HYPSM (I actually have an offer to go to Imperial this year (didn’t apply to Cambridge), however, I don’t think I’m currently in the correct state of mind to leave my mother in her current state and I’m worried how my family would cope without me.
I’ve got a couple of extra questions if that okay.

Okay, thank you!!!! Sounds like you’ve got it all figured out now and I wish you all the best (I’m also absolutely amazed by your knowledge of the us colleges). Which unis are you applying to for law???
I might apply, but I haven’t decided yet. I’m just not confident that I have a chance because of the stuff I’ve seen on Quora about having 5 A*s and at least 8 9s at GCSE, Olympic sports etc.
So, because of my a A-level grades, they wouldn’t care about me being test optional and having below-par GCSEs? And I can email the admissions officers for advice and information on how they consider a levels and stuff?
Also, which essays do I have to write? Is it like a personal statement or is it like an academic piece (or do I have to do both?)? I wrote my EPQ on SSRIs and big pharma could I use that? I got 50/50; so I’m pretty happy with it.

Haha thank you! I used to seriously obsess over research into this at 14! I'll be applying to Birmingham, Manchester, York, Nottingham and Sheffield (might change to Warwick if I get good predicted grades).
Ultimately, there's no harm in trying. Online sources can sometimes be misleading, especially if they're old. If someone with those stats were to apply, they would be more likely to face yield protection, which is when colleges reject someone they think are overqualified for them, assuming they'll get in somewhere else. That's why on Ivy Day, you'll typically see applicants with amazing stats and extra curriculars get rejected from their reach or safety schools, as those schools believe they'll get into Ivy Leagues, which may not always be the case as you know. I would say your GCSEs wouldn't hold you back here due to the holistic nature of admissions in the US and your A levels making up for it. Most Ivy League and Tier 1 schools do not require any standardised testing anymore and if you don't submit it, they say that you won't be put at a disadvantage. Definitely email admissions officers for advice as I'm sure they'll be able to give you much more in depth advice, but because you have already received your grades, they wouldn't have the requirement of maintaining your current standards (e.g. if you were to be predicted all A*s, they may ask for your grades at the end of the year to be around the same level). You'll need to use Common App to do your essays. You have to write one longer essay and this is more like a personal statement, but it does not need to justify why you want to study a subject. It's really just an essay about something personal to you. This could be a challenge you've faced and how you overcame it or it could be something that changed your life - literally anything! This is the Common App essay that will get sent to all your colleges and it's advised you write anywhere between 400-600 words for this. Each college will then have their own mini application on Common App and they'll ask you to complete short answer essay questions. For Princeton it might be something like why do you want to study at Princeton and then asking what subjects your interested in majoring in and why. It varies from college to college, but generally each question has no more than a 200 word limit. I know that last year Stanford had a particularly large amount of questions they wanted answered. You could mention your EPQ if it's something that motivated you to want to study engineering and economics or if it had a personal impact on you, but the US application process does not stress the same academic importance as the UK. Everything is very personal - even interviews are casual. However, because US students are typically applying to 15-20 colleges, going through each mini application as well as writing a Common App essay that will be well received by everyone can be very stressful. You shouldn't encounter this much stress as you're focusing on the Ivy League and Tier 1 schools. There are some Tier 2 and 3 schools that give 100% financial aid to students, but these are usually small private liberal arts institutions. Some examples of this are Vassar College, Pomona College and Tufts University (all very competitive due to their size). There's a list that Yale made if you want to make sure all your college choices give financial aid:
https://africanscholars.yale.edu/resources/colleges-universities-give-financial-aid-and-scholarships-international-students/united

Okay, thank you.
I will email Princeton, Yale, Columbia and MIT now to see what they think.
How does early action work? I believe Princeton is restrictive; so that means I can only apply to Princeton. If I get rejected, do I then apply to the others?
Do you reckon the top us unis know that predicted grades are inflated and that A-levels are so much more important? What I worry about is that US schools won’t have the knowledge about the English education system and that my GCSEs were teacher-predicted because of COVID-19, so they were not representative of my potential. I have a very good reference from my old tutor and teachers and school which outlines this; however, idk.
I honestly do not understand yield protection and why they apply to so many schools. I think it should be restricted to like 5-10.
Do they interview everyone?
Sorry for asking so many questions .

Early action is restrictive in the sense that you can’t apply anywhere else for early action, but it’s not binding, so if you get in you aren’t required to go. It’s different from early decision which is both restrictive and binding. If you were to get rejected from early action or early decision, you can’t apply anywhere else for early action or early decision, you would have to apply regular decision.
US colleges know that predicted grades are inflated, that’s why when people are applying with only predicted grades, while they won’t receive conditional offers like in the UK, those colleges would expect them to maintain their high level of working standards. If you’re predicted all A*s in 4 subjects, receive a Harvard offer, accept it and then flunk your A levels and end up with DDEU, Harvard isn’t going to accept you. If you were to drop down by maybe one grade, so AAAA, it wouldn’t matter too much to them, but you’ll have to ask them what their “conditions” are once you receive a decision. They know about grade inflation and deflation due to COVID-19, as this happened in the US too. Since your GCSEs were assessed during this time, they do take that into account heavily when making admissions, so it’s likely they also will view them as inaccurate indicators of your academic ability - especially considering your A level grades.
Even if they did apply to 5-10 schools, yield protection may still apply. I saw a girl who got rejected by local small colleges with acceptance rates of over 70%, because she was overqualified. Those places would rather not accept candidates they think will reject them, as their acceptance rate will skyrocket. I do think that applying to 20 schools is excessive, but for high achievers, this isn’t super unusual. The US is a lot bigger than the UK and has hundreds, if not thousands of colleges to choose from with different rankings. Because college there is a lot more community based, I understand why it matters so much to them as to where they will end up. Also, they don’t have clearing. If they get rejected from every school they either have to beg the schools to at least waitlist them or reapply next year.
They don’t interview everyone. I believe people get invited to interviews but since there is such a large pool of candidates, it would be impossible for Ivies to attempt that. For international students, what happens is occasionally they may have a representative who went to that school and lives in the UK, so they might offer you an in person interview. If not, it might be online or not at all. The process is different for every school.

Okay, thank you.
All of the colleges have come back to me and just gave a pretty generic email saying that the admission process is holistic and grades aren’t everything. I honestly hate how they don’t just have a minimum grade requirement like here in the UK. They, also, said that there is a space for me to talk about how I can talk about my circumstances (doesn’t seem like they consider them to a huge extent; to be fair, nor do UK schools).
Oh okay, thank you for explaining that.
I think I might stick with Imperial and then go and do my masters over there (despite the cost and Imperial’s toxic atmosphere). I really don’t have the resources to navigate through this process and make my application stand out. I will likely have a chance to go over there and do a bit of research there while I do my undergrad at Imperial; so I will look forward to that.
I mean imperial is the 6th best in the world so I don't really care, it's just that flexibility and general approach at colleges like Princeton I believe would have benefitted me.
Also, it is sooooo far away.

Thank you very much for your reply.
The thing is, since I’m from a low income family, I can really only apply to tier 1 schools as the only colleges that are need blind to internationals are tier 1 schools.
Also, the USA isn’t really a dream per se. It’s just more that the USAs higher education system structure is more preferable to me (also, a lot cheaper). I’m happy to go to Cambridge/imperial if I don’t get into HYPSM (I actually have an offer to go to Imperial this year (didn’t apply to Cambridge), however, I don’t think I’m currently in the correct state of mind to leave my mother in her current state and I’m worried how my family would cope without me.
I’ve got a couple of extra questions if that okay.

if ur household income is low all ELITE us schools ESPECIALLY the IVIES and ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY the ivies will waive all fees and legit just get you in for free IF and big IF you get into the UNI itself and meet the admission requirements
u generally have incredible grades im in year 11 myself in UK and these seem great especially under your circumstances
same with ur extracurricular
just check with the unis beforehand tho and dont take my word for it.
word of advice? Make sure someone is able to care for your mother, in your abscence.

if ur household income is low all ELITE us schools ESPECIALLY the IVIES and ESPECIALLY ESPECIALLY the ivies will waive all fees and legit just get you in for free IF and big IF you get into the UNI itself and meet the admission requirements
u generally have incredible grades im in year 11 myself in UK and these seem great especially under your circumstances
same with ur extracurricular
just check with the unis beforehand tho and dont take my word for it.
word of advice? Make sure someone is able to care for your mother, in your abscence.

I completely understand your reasoning. I also don’t feel like the US is the best thing for me right now, which is why I think doing a masters there has its benefits. It definitely feels less long term and more temporary than going for undergrad. Good luck in with Imperial, I’m sure you’ll thrive there and they’d be lucky to have you!