At least one of her teachers at University Heights DID advise her to apply elsewhere – to Harvard – but she didn’t because she didn’t believe the resources available at her school made her a competitive applicant against students who came from schools like Fieldston.
We also know why Melanie didn’t apply elsewhere. She applied for the Posse program (at Middlebury College) and made through several rounds of interviews, but was ultimately rejected. In the interview she said, “There could have been another opportunity (after Middlebury). I just got so frustrated to the point that I didn’t want to look for the opportunity. I was just like, I want this ■■■■ over and done with, because I felt like it wasn’t going to change.” So she graduated from high school early. She’s been working at a grocery store and taking classes at a local college as she can afford them.
[url=http://www.possefoundation.org/quick-facts/#whatareyoulook]Posse[/url] isn’t a merit award for high stats kids. “Posse looks for students who have done well academically, but who may not be considering (or might be missed by) some of the top universities (which often rely more heavily upon traditional admissions measures such as SAT scores).” So not all students who are nominated for Posse will have the stats to get a full ride to another college.