As for those who ask why she didn’t apply/attend West Point or one of the other FSAs, we don’t really know if she tried applying, succeeded in getting a nomination from a nominating source, and possibly ended up being rejected.
Something to keep in mind is that among folks who aspire to attend military oriented colleges, the FSAs are the military oriented college’s equivalent of the Ivies/peer elite colleges.
They are extremely competitive to gain admission to and there is a bit of disdainful snobbery some FSA admits/graduates I’ve encountered/read about have of their counterparts at the senior military colleges because the latter are regarded as being far less selective/easier to gain admission to…especially for in-staters.
Schools like VMI or The Citadel tend to be used as academic match/safety options among many students applying to the FSAs, especially students who are in-state for those institutions just in case they strike out in FSA admissions.
And this perception goes back a long ways in US military history. I recalled reading that despite spending a year at VMI before he opted to attend West Point, future WWII general George S. Patton had to repeat his West Point Plebe year for being “deficient in mathematics”.
Incidentally, a few undergrad classmates from SC received unsolicited applications and multiple solicitations to apply to The Citadel with fee wavers and offers of a full-ride scholarship as a “Citadel Scholar” when they were HS juniors/seniors. None were interested and they felt such solicitations reeked of desperation to attempt to attract more applicants whose stats/resumes were at the higher-end of the typical applicant pool of the period.