I guess if you want attention and you have the ability to get attention, and you position yourself to grab attention, you get attention.
The media picks it up, and if you do well at your choice of school, promotes you (three to see), thus you have effectively marketed yourself and raised your stock in the post graduation world.
It's a gamble.
Do kids worry about losing respect of others while taking this path? Well, I can't answer that, but I can point out that during all of the severe weather this weekend, if you turned to the weather channel to get an update on the severity in your area, likely you would get programming such as "Fat Guys in the Woods" (I kid you not) instead of a forecast. Just saying...
I wish her the best of luck...