<p>I am considering graduating from high school a year early to focus on playing the double bass. I already have more credits than are needed, and I definitely want music to be my life. I am currently a sophomore and would like to decide now, so I can take my required extra English course online. </p>
<p>I have around a 3.7(?) GPA (did have a 4.0 freshie year) and am taking very challenging classes (the pre-IB curriculum here is ridiculous... I'm in IB Math Analysis as a sophomore.)</p>
<p>I have an excellent bass teacher, and plan on auditioning for conservatories, so I was thinking of graduating junior year (which wouldnt be difficult for me) and focusing almost entirely on my bass and possibly taking a few language courses (I like langauges haha).</p>
<p>Why rush things? If you have an excellent teacher, why do you want to leave early? </p>
<p>Graduate on time and make yourself a really excellent candidate for where you want to go.
I had a classmate (many moons ago) that did just what you want to do, take the English class over the summer and graduate at the end of her junior year. She didn’t get into the school she realy wanted to. They said they had more qualified candidates. I believe that if she had waited and graduated on time, she would have been one the top candidates at her school of choice. Instead she went to a lesser school.</p>
<p>If you really want to leave HS early, talk to where you want to go and see what they have to say. You may want to audition for them and get their opinion.</p>
<p>No, not quite What Im suggesting. Im saying stop EVERYTHING for what would normally be senior year except for music. (and graduate during what is normally Junior year)</p>
<p>EDIT: and then apply to conservatories after what would have been my senior year</p>
<p>So, you want to graduate hs in three years, take a Gap year to focus only on your music and then apply/audition during that Gap year to start college on what would have been the original course?</p>
<p>Before you try to convince your parents of this I would try to do some serious fact finding yourself. That way you know if it is indeed the right path for you, and you have more concrete information to offer your parents. Contact music programs you would like to consider attending and ask them how this is viewed. If you do graduate in three years/take a Gap year, what type of training or other involvement would they expect you to have taken part in to be a viable candidate. This may in fact be a viable road if you will spend the year with a local symphony, etc., that you could not take advantage of if you were in school full time.</p>
<p>I would offer, perhaps consider taking only a couple of credits needed your Sr. year (English, music, etc.). This would leave you more time in the day to study with a private instructor, and yet another year to move into leadership positions at your school, take part in competitions that require you to be a hs student, etc.</p>
<p>There are several parents here who have students who are applying to or at music conservatories, have completed programs, or are currently performing professionally. Perhaps you could start a thread “Advise needed from music conservatory parents”, or something similar to get their attention. I think you will get a greater audience from parents who have more specific information in this area. It is a bit different.
Best of luck to you!</p>
<p>Taking a year to focus on music in this way is not unusual (for dancers, and other artists, as well). In fact, there are musicians who homeschool and focus on music for those years. (My own daughter left high school and got her GED in order to dance.)</p>
<p>This path will deepen your music performance, but I would also worry that you might get a distorted view of what life will be like as a musician, if you end up isolated while you do this. Will you live at home? Do you have friends around, orchestra or ensembles to play in with others, ways to relax?</p>
<p>Could you apply early to conservatory, or do you think this year of study will help you get in to a conservatory that you would like to attend?</p>
<p>p.s. I’m sure you are aware that academics don’t play a large role in conservatory admissions. It is all about the music, and the audition specifically.</p>
<p>I have several local orchestras, a youth orchestra etc as well as a string ensemble. And I would live at home and the goal would be to reach a highly competitive level with regards to getting in to a conservatory</p>
<p>While the original question still stands, does anyone also happen to know if schools would have higher expectations of gap year/graduating early students?</p>
<p>My D did something but only partly similar. She graduated HS after junior year and entered a BFA degree program (conservatory approach) for musical theater. She did NOT, however, take a gap year. This idea was hers and she approached us in tenth grade about it. I called every college program on her list to inquire if they took students who were early graduates and all said that was fine as long as they earned a HS diploma. She had various reasons she wanted to graduate early relating to academics, artistic development/achievements, social and emotional development, and was able to articulate it well. She also wrote a statement to every college with her applications giving her rationale for graduating early. But yes, she had to be at the level to be “audition ready” for highly competitive programs. In fact, she was young because she entered Kindergarten early as well and so was a year ahead before she graduated a year early. For her, it worked out well and she had a very successful admissions outcome. She graduated college at age 20 and is now working professionally in her field. There are many things you have to weigh and I don’t know you but talk to your parents and music teachers and guidance counselor about this plan and if it appropriate for you. In your case, the gap year may be very useful if you use it to hone y our artistic skills. My D was not looking to take a gap year.</p>
<p>I had not seen your post/question (#9) when I posted #10 above. </p>
<p>As I am also a college counselor, I can tell you that early graduates tend to come under closer review or scrutiny by admissions committees (at least in general admissions, not necessarily in the artistic review). They will want to know that you are truly ready for college. That’s why an extra statement addressing this in your application materials is helpful and asking your guidance counselor and rec writers to also speak to this in their letters. In your case, it may be less of an issue as you are planning a gap year and will thus be entering college at the “normal” age. You still should include a statement as to why you graduated early and also how you spent your gap year. This is different than the application essays. I have a nephew who took a gap year and is also in a music field and I assisted him with his process last year and he included an extra essay statement on his reasons for the gap year and how he spent it. He is now a freshman in college in his chosen field.</p>
<p>@soozievt, So glad you weighed in here and gave some great advise. You were just who I had in mind when I mentioned parents who had students performing professionally! Hope your daughter is doing well.</p>
<p>@PRUNEFACE (btw, I can’t help wondering about this screen name, lol!) - You may want to consider the assistance of a reputable college counselor who is well versed in music conservatory admissions/specializes in that area. I am not familiar with it, but know enough to realize it is a very different process.</p>
<p>Do not limit your options. Look at the admissions requirements AND the typical HS courses taken by admitted students at music and general colleges you are interested in. Meeting the minimum HS graduation requirements does not make you very competitive for most colleges. The places you would prefer for music are likely to be more competitive academically than you realize. The brilliant/accomplished in music only student will not have an edge over the more well rounded student who also took many elective academic subjects in addtion to spending time with their instrument.</p>
<p>Try to future proof yourself. What if by the time you are 20 you discover another option that interests you? Or, closer to home- why not use your teenage years to explore options you won’t have time for later? Having more knowledge of arts, humanities, literature, history will give you more dimension than just being a bass player. Even college grads with a music performance degree do not always find a job using their music skills. Be more rather than less, prepared for college and beyond.</p>
<p>Pruneface, as I wrote, I don’t know your specific background academically or artistically. wis75 has good advice IF by chance you are trying to just satisfy the min. HS graduation requirements. For example, in my D’s case, she was accelerated academically and there was not a lot left to take at our HS if she stayed another year. She had strong reasons socially, artistically, and academically to graduate early. So, I’d have to know lots more about you before I advised or supported the decision to graduate early. In some cases, it makes sense. I don’t know your artistic competitiveness either for college auditions. </p>
<p>You asked if there were private counselors for performing arts admissions. Yes, some counselors have expertise in this area of admissions. While a school guidance counselor or a private college counselor may be wonderful, they may not be well versed on this very specialized admissions process or the specific programs. Some do seek the guidance of a counselor who specializes in arts admissions. In any case, you should spend a lot of time reading the Music Majors Forum on CC as there is a wealth of knowledge in the threads there. Many have been through this process and are willing to help others.</p>
<p>Well, according to the people on the Music Major forum they do not even care about academics at most conservatories. (Excepting, say, Rice or Boston Uni) and I have good grades, I’ll have four credits of english (two AP) five years (at least) of AP Social Sciences/Studies as well as Calculus complete by the end of Junior year, and chem hon, bio hon, and physics hon (as well as an undecided science course) complete. I am already well qualified for many major schools.</p>
<p>Pruneface, it sounds like you have taken a solid and challenging HS curriculum. While the audition counts more than academics in admissions to audition-based performing arts programs, academics still count. Programs that are situated in more academically selective colleges are harder to get into than those that are not. Examples: Oberlin, Rice, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>Pruneface, I read another post of yours from August that you are auditioning for some of the well known performing arts boarding schools. That would be a different path for you and a good one if your parents support it and can afford it. Two years at one of those schools would be great preparation (my own kid did not go to a performing arts high school).</p>
<p>I suggest you have a heart to heart talk with your parents. You can’t possibly apply to Interlochen, Walnut Hill, or Idyllwild without knowing pretty soon if they will support the idea (it is not a minor thing to send a kid off to an expensive boarding school for two years). You’d have to be doing those apps soon and the audition prep soon, etc. </p>
<p>If you want to propose graduating early and a gap year, you should make your case with very well thought out reasons. When our kid came to us in the middle of tenth grade about graduating early, she laid out quite a reasoned rationale. It was all her idea and never our intentions (not to mention she already had an early entrance into Kindergarten and there was some discussion at one point about her skipping sixth grade but we didn’t as she was already a year ahead and so we went with acceleration and accommodations after that point). It was hard to argue with it (not to mention she is driven and strong willed) and looking back on this now, some years later, we think she did make the right decision for herself. </p>
<p>You are on this step now. Think it through. Write down reasons if you need to. Research what you can. Then, meet the 'rents about your options and desires and reasons and talk it out maturely.</p>