You ask a really great question that’s specific, and fortunately, researchable: “Is it possible to make it into the orchestral world without being at a music school for college?” Because you know D’s goal - to play horn in an orchestra based in a city, you can look up the orchestral rosters of the horn players of each target orchestra and read their bios. Just looking at the NY Phil’s horn section, the most junior horn player went to U of Wis (BM) and Yale (MM). A brief, not-comprehensive perusal indicates that performance degrees are the norm. So, I’d look for BM, rather than BA, degree programs. Accruing unmanageable debt is not wise, IMO, for the music world, but perhaps some degree of debt is realistic to achieve D’s goals. Idk. By the way, what does it mean to be a “top five players in the state each year?”