<p>Alright so here is my situation. I just graduated from high school and it was always my intention to audition for a BFA MUSICAL THEATER program, but due to so many different things that occured during my senior year, I did not audition for any schools other than the in state ones (i live in idaho, and although schools offer Music majors and Theater majors..no musical theater). So i got accepted to my number one in state choice and was planning on majoring in theater and minoring in music, but i am not content with the fact that i will not be doing what i love, which is musical theater. I could attend the school for a year (2010-2011 academic school year) with the plan of transfering to a school and begin work on earning my BFA.. but due to the rigorous nature of this private school, i would have to give up my job and any participation in my local regional theater company. And auditions during the school year for BFA musical theater programs would be very stressful on top of that. OR i could take the year off, take private lessons, gain experience with my musical theater company and work to earn money. Then i would be able to audition without it being a huge stress. Ive pretty much come to the conclusion that taking a year off is the best decision, and that way i would have plenty of time to audition for 10 or so schools in hopes of getting accepted into a musical theater program for 2011-2012 school year. I keep wondering if taking a year off will look bad to schools and at auditions. Carnegie Mellon is among my top couple of choices and i want nothing more but to earn my BFA in musical theater. I do not know what to do, and i keep worrying that i have put myself in a horrible position. ANY suggestions?? any thing at all helps. Thank you -Jake</p>
<p>Taking a year off is not an issue with any school as far as I know. Many MT applicants take a gap year to gain more experience before they audition for MT programs. When my daughter attended BoCo, 2 of the 4 girls in her room had taken gap years after high school. One advantage is that if you are eventually accepted into a BFA program for MT, most programs will not accept the units from your in-state program and you will have to start over as a freshman anyway. If MT is really what you want, then you might consider spending the year earning extra money, taking voice and dance lessons, and auditioning for local theater. Just make sure that when it is time to audition for MT, you include a variety of schools in your list, including some non-reach programs. C-M is a great school, but as I’m sure you know is extremely competetive and difficult to get into. Make sure you remain open-minded and apply to a number of programs. Good luck!</p>