<p>Junior year is coming to a close, and part of me is excited to look at colleges and think about my future, and the other part is saying I should wait. What is the general opinion on a gap year for music students? </p>
<p>I'll audition for voice, and my voice teacher can't imagine I'll have difficulty auditioning, but I'm kind of worried for myself. I win competitions and get great comments, and I've done summer programs where I was received very well. But I'll graduated high school at 17, and I'll still be 17 when I start college. That extra year might possibly help me with auditions. But at the same time, my teacher feels I should get in to great schools with auditions anyways. </p>
<p>More importantly, I've been losing a grip of my emotions for quite a while and I'm starting to see people about it. I want to get out of my house and hopefully out of the state, but I'm not positive I'll be mentally and emotionally ready for college and for the real world. This isn't about being homesick at all - that isn't a problem of mine. It is about my internal emotional struggles at the moment. I know the industry is tough and I've been working on "toughening my skin", but I've lost control of my emotions within this school year more than in the past (I've always been somewhat that way). I find myself very overwhelmed in my public school. I've developed anxiety and can be very irritable. I wonder if I need a year of downtime to settle down with my mental state. Also, I'm not sure how I'll react to the added stress of college applications and auditions during school. I'm taking 2 AP classes, and 5 total core classes. </p>
<p>If I do take a gap, I'll be the only one, I believe, in any circle of my friends. Of course I would practice and study theory, etc. But I'd need to come up with other plans. I would apply for college during my gap. </p>
<p>General gap ideas? Yay or nay?</p>
<p>It’s important that you be ready for school, not only academically and musically, but emotionally. It’s huge that you can see this about yourself. What I would recommend is put yourself through the application process while you have the services of your high school and while your voice is performance ready. Go through your senior year while continuing the counseling. In April of your senior year, when it’s time to decide, you pick your favorite school, put down a deposit, but tell them you want to defer for year because of your age (don’t mention your emotional state necessarily, as that is between you and your counselor/therapist). If you plan a year of private lessons and travel to broaden your maturity before you dive into college, they are likely to approve a gap year, and you can relax the whole year knowing that you have a school waiting for you. Read more about gap years to make sure you could do something meaningful with it, in addition to therapy and relaxing to shake off some of the emotions you have recently experienced.</p>
<p>If for some reason you don’t like the result of the college application results, then you can use the gap year to re-apply to other schools, but I caution you that you are unlikely to dramatically change your application stats much because from the time you decide to formally ask for a deferral (or gap year) until you have to re-apply, it will only have been less than 6 months.</p>
<p>Lastly, you are young … don’t be too hard on yourself. Some of your emotional surprises could be attributed to the stress of high school, social issues, HORMONES, and the talent that you may be using to prove yourself. It’s a lot for anyone, but much more so for someone that is 15-16-17 as your brain is still maturing.</p>
<p>You are very lucky to have such insight into your feelings and very wise to seek to deal with your feelings before landing in a situation that might exacerbate problems. Several classmates of my D’s had similar misgivings, didn’t listen to them, and have either dropped out, failed out, or are having to take a semester (or longer) off from school.
Talk it over with your therapist and set up a plan which lays out what you ARE going to be doing during that year. Enrolling in a community college for a class or two would help get some gen ed requirements out of the way- take Italian if you can, which would be a big help to you later on. If you schedule classes right, then you’ll be able to handle auditions without missing anything. Continue to take voice lessons and by all means add in piano lessons too. Get a part time job- keep busy but to a level that feels comfortable to you. But having a regular routine is important so that you stay on track.
Don’t worry about being the only one of your friends to do something different, you are taking care of yourself which is all important. Maybe you can visit some schools on your short list and get in some sample lessons , which is much harder to do when you’re in school and applying and auditioning at the same time. I think you have things well in hand and will be just fine taking things at your own pace.</p>
<p>I know several young people whose emotions were a mess, some of them not even functional, during senior year, who went to college in the fall and have done fine. I don’t know the details of your situation and you have a therapist to discuss plans with, but did want to say that many of us imagine we are the only ones, when emotional turmoil and doubts and outbursts and depression and anxiety are all part of the picture for many, many of your peers. Some go right to school, some wait a year, so that is up to you. But don’t single yourself out as in any way as “abnormal”!</p>
<p>Everyone I know who has taken a gap year (and for many reasons-- to prepare a better audition, to do a special project, to become more mature and ready for college) everyone has emerged happier, more confident, and, in the case of those who re-auditioned, quite pleased with the artistic results. Gap years are more and more common. I think part of it is that the cost of college has risen so considerably in comparison to incomes and inflation that people are more concerned to make every moment count. I teach in a college (not a music conservatory) and can tell you from years of working with young students, that those who take a year or two before starting are almost always more together and focused. Which is not to say there is something wrong with starting at 17. Many do, but waiting a bit can give you (I know it sounds paradoxical) a big head start, in terms of emotional and mental maturity.</p>
<p>Taking a gap year can be beneficial for many reasons and you are wise to think about it especially if you feel you need time and space to work things out. A gap year for a music student can be extra time to get their feet underneath them, or simply time to figure out if that is what you want to do. I have seen kids who were academically focused, who were uber achievers who could get into any school in the country, who had teachers tell them to spend a year smelling the roses so to speak, travelling, working, whatever to get some balance, and the kids generally said it was the smartest thing they did. Looking back at my own college experience, i think if i had taken that year and worked, taken a break from the academic grind, I would have discovered more of myself, not just academically, but emotionally and otherwise, prob would have more found myself then I ended up doing (on the other hand it is likely I wouldn’t have met my spouse if I had done that, so I don’t have any real regrets, not seeing the outcome). </p>
<p>It is not uncommon, and admissions people and people at colleges often seem to say that kids who take that time tend to come in better prepared and focused. </p>
<p>It is a good thing you have someone to help, so when you make the decision you know you at least worked on it and also know that whatever you decide, you probably will end up okay,especially since you are working through the emotions.</p>