From what my readers and their teachers and librarians tell me, Merryweather High is no better and no worse than many schools out there. It is not based on any one school. It's presented through Mellie's eyes, Mellie's experiences. At first, I thought that was limiting, that the outcast's story told by the outcast would only provide a narrow slice of high school life. I know better now.
All teenagers feel like outcasts, even the kids who, on the surface, appear to have everything.
When you don't know who you are, your clan provides an identity. When you don't have a clan, you're sunk. If you want to spark an interesting discussion, ask a teenager about the clans in her school. Ask where she fits in. The ending of the book was the hardest.