<p>I also was frustrated my senior year, now that I think about it. I could just as easily have graduated one year earlier as I was ready for college by junior year.</p>
<p>My daughter doesn’t do well on SAT-type exams (needs more time) and waiting one more year won’t make any difference. For the most part she will apply only to conservatories without standarized test requirements. Her grades are high and she is good at English and history. She’ll apply to our Big State University as a safety, where SATs are not required and where one of her private teachers is a professor. She’ll also apply to one conservatory in Europe and to McGill. With two instruments, she is going to have a lot of auditions!</p>
<p>She is a very mature young lady and gets along well with older students and the professional musicians she is already performing with.</p>
<p>We live in a large city and one of her teachers is the principal in a major symphony orchestra. If he feels she is ready for the big-time auditions and is setting up lessons for her this month at conservatories, I’m not going to question him. And she has done the major summer programs, including one college program where she was the youngest by 3 years. Last summer she played in a trio with players accepted to Juilliard, so she has a pretty good idea of what’s required.</p>
<p>I too feel that the playing level is rising with the influx of foreign players. I get concerned because many of them come from very wealthy families, and I can’t compete with their finances. We have seen a number of foreign players at summer camps. Many of them were good, not great, but I suppose the summer camp admitted them because they could afford to play full fare. And of course some of them are really really good players, which makes everything more competitive.</p>
<p>In general I too feel, why not graduate early? If my daughter doesn’t get in where she likes, she can always do a gap year. My fear of holding her back is that she will get more frustrated, and I don’t think it’s good to let that go on too long. I’ve always had the philisophy of not holding my kids back, if they have a plan, work hard, and meet various requirements I’ve set out.</p>
<p>It sounds like you and your D have the right attitude and also seem to understand what it takes and I am glad your D is starting to work with other teachers at music schools, to get an idea of what it is like. What you say about music is very true, money has its advantages, and in the strings world I could tell you stories about students from well off families and what they do to get their kids into top programs,it is staggering to say the least. The good news is there is still room for talent out there, and I suspect from some of the backchatter I have heard music schools are starting to recognize the pitfalls of what they have been doing with foreign students, that it doesn’t always work out the way they think. </p>
<p>I am of your school, if your D is ready, let he go for it, and quite frankly, spending what would be her senior year on a gap year if it doesn’t work out isn’t the worse thing in the world, and like I said, she might find other interesting things to do instead of going to school every day, maybe doing gigs of some sort or the other, or maybe volunteering or whatever:). I am like you, I would rather fit things to circumstances rather then one size fits all. We made the same decision when our S started homeschooling and we got much the same thing, that he would miss the ‘benefits’ of going to school, wouldn’t be socialized and the like, which was ridiculous because in some ways, he is more socialized then many of the kids who go to school, and that maybe to him/us the ‘benefits’ were outweighed by the negatives <em>shrug</em>.</p>
<p>In any event, I say seize the moment and ride it:)</p>
<p>I am glad you seem to tipping the other direction than where we were with my brother woodwinds. We definitely regret not having him do auditions. My biggest advice is for her to make these next months about music and nothing else. It sounds like she is very talented but one year less can make a huge difference in terms of scholarship money. Be absolutely SURE that you a not forfeiting a lot of money by going down this road.</p>
<p>Speaking as the mom of an oboist as well, it may be difficult for her to continue at the same high level on both instruments. My D was cut off from her teacher’s reeds her junior year of high school. It was rough but helped prepare her for later. It was about that time when she made a choice to stop private violin lessons after 11 years and focus on oboe. I know D is very busy at school with classes, ensembles, chamber, auditions, practicing, and reeds. Best of luck to you and your D in whatever decision you make.</p>
<p>My youngest daughter skipped senior year of high school entirely. She danced in a company. She got her GED and then when she decided to try college two years out of school, she got a diploma from a school that we found online, that gave her credits for GED scores and some out of school experience. She is struggling in college, but I don’t really think that is because she missed that last year; it’s more due to ADHD that led her to prefer dance in the first place.</p>
<p>My other daughter is a musician, and very mature for her age. I spent a lot of time with her at the stage you and your daughter are at, looking at colleges, online options and so on. She ended up taking two online courses senior year (one AP online, two at school as I remember) to free up class time and give her flexibility. She worked privately with a teacher and went to NEC prep on weekends. She is glad, in the end, that she did things this way, though socially, like your daughter,she much prefers to be around people older than peers.</p>
<p>Personally, I think your daughter sounds like she will be ready, but only you and she (and her music teachers!) know that.</p>