OP wrote:
“It won’t crush her soul when she is not the smartest kid in the room.”
To me, this suggests a lack of familiarity with top dozen or so prep boarding schools. Some students excel in certain areas while just being a typical A student in other areas. There is no one student who is the smartest kid in every room, the class, the grade, or the school as might be found in other high schools.
I find the most impressive results of attending an elite prep boarding school are revealed in the students’ communication skills and in their problem solving skills.
To repeat from my earlier post in this thread: The primary difference between or among elite prep boarding schools is the school culture.
Academically, however, the elite prep boarding schools are similar in the respect that all students will be challenged.