Hi, I was just where you are now 3 years ago. It is very overwhelming at first. Please know that the more you read, things will start to fall into place and make sense. There is a lot of helpful info on CC.
I think youalready have a lot of great advice here. I wanted to add in one other factor. Your daughter will need a mix of competitive levels in the schools she applies to. I am referring to TALENT competition, and not academic level. Some schools are known to be highly competitive (less than 5% get in, maybe as little as 1%), some are mid level, some are fairly easy, some don’t require auditions. Any school that requires an audition is considered to be pretty competitive.
Anyway, you need a mix of these levels. A good resource for you might be Maryann Denard’s book and/or her website.
My daughter and I just made it through this process and she is going to one of her dream schools. 3 years ago, we knew NOTHING about how to do this. So, please just have faith that you will figure it all out. You have lots of time!