<p>Our daughter called one top music conservatory with some questions about submitting an academic paper that was part of the application, and was told that they mainly wanted to make sure applicants could read and write. Seriously.</p>
<p>Our other daughter is a dancer and skipped senior year entirely to dance, getting her GED in the fall of senior year. A top dance conservatory seemed to view this as a sign of dedication, but, again, the audition is what mattered.</p>
<p>If music is truly what you want to do, and you are applying to a conservatory rather than a music school within a university (for which you also have to get into the university), then academics don’t matter much, being well-rounded doesn’t matter, and a gap year doesn’t matter. It is just all about the audition.</p>
<p>It’s great that you have pursued a rigorous curriculum in high school, for yourself, and it will help you feel that you are choosing music in the context of many options, which is always a good feeling.</p>