Great non-academics enough?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Duke University
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<p>I’m posting this for a friend who is trying to decide where she should apply:</p>

<p>I was thinking she might have a chance at schools like Vanderbilt, Duke, Emory, Wake Forest, etc Just because of her circumstances – she is low-income and is basically looking for the best school where she can get into and go to for free (good need-based aid) so if you know of any schools that might work please let me know!</p>

<p>I know her stats aren’t great, but was thinking that her non-academics might make up for it:</p>

<p>African-American Female
From a rural & poor town in SC: school sends kids to top schools once every 5 or so years
3 sport varsity athlete: Volleyball, Basketball, and Track (though probably not good enough to be recruited)
Works 35+ hours per week
Unweighted GPA: 3.8
Weighted GPA: 4.2
SAT: (what kind of score would she need to be competitive?) What if she had: Math 600, CR 600, W 600?<br>
Rank: 35 out of 350</p>

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<p>The GPA looks pretty good, I’d say competitive with a large portion of the Duke applicant pool. Since there’s no real SAT score, can’t say much about that. But a 1800 composite score could be a real negative there, not really commensurate with her GPA. If she can bring it above 2000, then it would definitely help I think. The rank barely ekes by the 10% mark, if she can maintain that, it would be fine. </p>

<p>Overall, I don’t think she’s a bad candidate, especially if she comes from the socioeconomic background described. I think Duke would look favorably on her achievements given the context.</p>

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<p>your friend’s URM status is HUGE. everything else looks good too. it will help if she maintains her top 10% ranking. also, you don’t have her SAT score but that will come into play as well. 1800 is on the low side even for a URM but if your friend can score 2000+ then she will be competitive for admission</p>