When 18-year-old Lucas Gill applied for some of the top universities in the world he thought he would be lucky to be accepted by one. But after getting offers from five Ivy League colleges, the boy from rural Southland is off to study at Yale. Hailing from a farm in Winton, he said his expectations ‘‘couldn’t have been lower’’. ‘‘These universities . . . they always felt like they’re part of a different world.’’ On March 26, Mr Gill found out he had been accepted into Yale, Harvard, Dartmouth and Brown universities along with the Wharton School. ‘‘To open those portal updates and see the congratulations, it was just astounding.’’ The application process was ‘‘extensive’’, the most time-intensive aspect being the supplemental essays. ‘‘I poured hundreds of hours into [supplemental essays] from August till the end of the year.’’ He has lived in a small rural community his whole life and attended Central Southland College.…