It sounds like your daughter is a thoughtful person and is doing very well.
I would only apply ED anywhere if all three of the following are true: (1) It is clearly the student’s top choice; (2) The student has visited (possibly with a parent); (3) Either you are fine being full pay or the NPC shows it as likely to be affordable.
It does not sound to me as if all three of these are true, although the visit part could be cleared up over the summer and a visit might impact the first part as well.
I do not think that it is necessary to ED anywhere. There are a LOT of universities that are very good for biology, and that will offer good opportunities to a student interested in biology-related research.
I think that it will indeed be cut-throat with many premeds.
I think that W&M is a great choice and Brown is a great choice. Of course your daughter also needs to be sure to apply to safeties.
By the way your daughter sounds a lot like our younger daughter, except your daughter is younger and the 1480 PSAT is even more excellent than what our daughter got. This particular daughter did not ED anywhere, applied to 5 schools, had 5 offers to think about, and eventually picked one that was a good fit. Years later she is now studying for a PhD in a biomedical field.
I could have written the same things about my younger daughter 8 years ago. She applied more or less EA (all schools she applied to actually had rolling admissions). With admissions offers in hand we visited her top choices. One thing about visiting a school with an affordable offer in hand is that the student knows that they really can go there if they want to. It feels real. She eventually figured it out. If your daughter were to for example end up deciding between affordable offers from Brown and W&M, as a parent I would be tempted to say “they are both great options, you cannot go wrong”.
This is what I am thinking. Plan to visit both schools over the summer. Then if she has one clear top choice apply there ED. Otherwise apply EA or RD, wait for the offers to come in, if necessary visit again, and eventually either your daughter or the schools themselves will figure this out.
A student does not need to attend the highest ranked university they can get into. There are a lot of universities that are very good in general, very good for biology and research, and where a student can get a very good undergraduate education. Finding a good fit is more important but can be more difficult compared to just looking at rankings.
Also, schools are looking for students who are a good fit for them. They have done this before and they get it right very often.
And be careful about the finances. If you are full pay, then Brown is expensive. A bachelor’s degree in biology often leads to a graduate program. PhD’s are usually fully funded, but with a stipend that is only just enough to live on and some parent help can make the 6 or 7 years of getting a PhD easier to get through (apparently the stipend also counts as income for purposes of funding an IRA, and 6 or 7 years of funding an IRA early will help a lot in the long run but is only likely to be possible if the parent is helping the student out financially). Other graduate degrees such as master’s degrees are typically not funded.
And if you look at the students at very good biomedical PhD programs, they come from a very, very wide range of undergraduate schools.
Give this time. Your daughter sounds very sensible and thoughtful, is doing very well, and will eventually figure this out (whether before the ED deadline, or later after getting multiple acceptances in hand).
. Just a dose of reality!