Hi! Viola mom here. My daughter is in the middle of deciding where to attend. I think for us, her teacher helped us decide where to apply based on teachers he knew. He also suggested not to study with someone older who may be retiring soon (i.e. Atar Arad or Jeffrey Irvine).
Also for us, we stayed away from schools where we thought they may not be generous with merit. She originally applied to Rice, BU, CMU, SFCM, CIM, Peabody, IU, and Eastman. She was rejected from Rice, but passed all other pre-screens and auditioned to the other 7.