Buck, I have a bit different view since I actually went to culinary school for a while.
This is kind of what my instructor told me when I asked about what knives to buy.
Culinary school is HARD on good knives with the amount of usage they get and they get banged around constantly with all the activity level of the students and the constant washing in big stainless sinks. They get knocked to the floor and dropped in the sinks. I would recommend something that is DURABLE rather than just for aesthetics. One other tip I would offer. If she is actually going to be using this knife in her school work, personalize it. Have her name either etched, or engraved on the blade and possibly put her initials on the handle. As sad as this is to say, if that knife isn't personalized, it stands a good chance of coming up missing. She is around a group of people who appreciate nice knives. That's not to say that it will happen to your niece, but it does happen. It's kind of weird but, culinary people tend to be an odd, rag tag bunch that ranges from normal everyday joes, to really wild punk hair, tats and piercings all over the body and everything in between.
My recommendation would be to make her a really durable one (like G10 or maybe Dymondwood from Janz) that isn't as "pretty" to use for school, but make her another REALLY nice and pretty one to present to her when she graduates. Even with the really durable one, I would personalize it.
Hope this helps.